{"id":331239,"date":"2026-03-06T02:12:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-06T02:12:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/331239\/"},"modified":"2026-03-06T02:12:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T02:12:09","slug":"trump-demands-say-on-irans-next-leader-as-middle-east-war-spirals-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/331239\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump demands say on Iran\u2019s next leader as Middle East war spirals \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

US<\/a> president Donald Trump<\/a> has demanded a say in picking Iran<\/a>\u2019s next leader despite scant signs that the regime is losing its grip in the face of a relentless US and Israeli<\/a> air campaign.<\/p>\n

Iran continued to sustain rocket and drone fire at Israel and Gulf states on Thursday, even attacking Azerbaijan<\/a> on its northern border. Azerbaijan vowed retaliation.<\/p>\n

Iran said it had launched more than 500 ballistic and naval missiles and about 2,000 drones since Saturday \u2013 about 40 per cent were aimed at Israel; the rest were fired at what were termed \u201cAmerican targets\u201d in the region, mostly in the Gulf states.<\/p>\n

The pounding of regime targets across Iran by US and Israeli fighter jets continued apace on day six of the Middle East war as the conflict continued to widen.<\/p>\n

In Lebanon<\/a>, hundreds of thousands of residents heeded warnings from the Israeli military and fled in panic from the south and from Beirut\u2019s Dahiyeh quarter, a stronghold of the Iranian-backed Hizbullah<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"AA mourner holds a portrait of Iran’s slain supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Thursday during a funeral procession for members of Iraq’s pro-Iran paramilitary group Hezbullah Brigades who were killed in a strike in Baghdad the previous day. Photograph: Ahmad al-Rubaye\/AFP via Getty Images <\/p>\n

Lebanese president Joseph Aoun asked French president Emmanuel Macron to intervene to prevent Israel from striking in Beirut. But on Thursday night, Israel began striking what it describes as Hizbullah infrastructure in Dahiya, a densely populated commercial and residential area in the southern suburbs of Beirut. <\/p>\n

The attack comes in spite of calls from world leaders including Emmanuel Macron urging Israel not to expand the war into Lebanon. According to the Lebanese health ministry, Israeli strikes have killed at least 123 people and injured 683 in Lebanon since Monday.<\/p>\n

There was growing anger in Lebanon against the Hizbullah for dragging the country into the war by firing rockets at Israel on Monday.<\/p>\n

Trump, meanwhile, said he would welcome Kurdish opposition groups launching an offensive against the Iranian regime after Iran\u2019s military said it targeted the headquarters of Iranian Kurdish forces in northern Iraq, stepping up strikes on Kurdish regions in both Iran and Iraq.<\/p>\n

Sirens again wailed across Israel but the number of Iranian rocket and drone attacks appears to be declining. <\/p>\n

Iran said it targeted Israel\u2019s main Ben-Gurion international airport on Thursday after rescue flights began bringing home the tens of thousands of Israelis stranded abroad. One flight was forced to delay its arrival to avoid incoming rocket fire.<\/p>\n

The United Arab Emirates<\/a> said it intercepted six Iranian missiles and more than 130 drones on Thursday, but a missile and six drones penetrated its territory. There were also explosions in Qatar and Bahrain.<\/p>\n

Azerbaijan\u2019s president Ilham Aliyev said armed forces had been instructed to \u201cprepare and implement appropriate retaliatory measures\u201d after it accused Iran of carrying out two drones strikes.<\/p>\n

European involvement in the conflict has increased with European powers pledging to work together to safeguard shipping in the Red Sea and send naval and other assets to protect Cyprus. <\/p>\n

British prime minister Keir Starmer<\/a> said he was sending four fighter jets to Qatar<\/a> to strengthen UK defensive operations and Italy promised to provide air defence systems, anti-drone and antimissile systems to Gulf countries.<\/p>\n

\"EvenEven though the US has refrained from listing regime change as an aim of the war, president Donald Trump said on Thursday he needs to be personally involved in selecting Iran\u2019s next leader, just as he was in Venezuela. Photograph: Tierney L Cross\/New York Times <\/p>\n

Minister for Foreign Affairs Helen McEntee<\/a> said the US-Israeli attack on Iran had no United Nations<\/a> mandate but she stopped short of saying it amounted to a breach of international law.<\/p>\n

\u201cIreland\u2019s position on the use of force outside such a context is well established and known,\u201d she said in the D\u00e1il<\/a> on Thursday.<\/p>\n

The Opposition has been putting pressure on the Government<\/a> to state that international law had been breached.<\/p>\n

Even though the US has refrained from listing regime change as an aim of the war, Trump said on Thursday he needs to be personally involved in selecting Iran\u2019s next leader, just as he was in Venezuela.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are wasting their time. Khamenei\u2019s son is a lightweight. I have to be involved in the appointment, like with Delcy [Rodriguez] in Venezuela,\u201d Trump told Axios in a phone interview, acknowledging reports that supreme leader Ali Khamenei\u2019s son Mojtaba has been tapped as a likely successor.<\/p>\n

\u201cKhamenei\u2019s son is unacceptable to me. We want someone that will bring harmony and peace to Iran,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"US president Donald Trump has demanded a say in picking Iran\u2019s next leader despite scant signs that the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":331240,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[17171,15049,969,1523,42,1556,123265,11829,3410,150432,1194,14396,43,4444,40,38,41,39,36222,115,23242],"class_list":["post-331239","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-azerbaijan","tag-dail-eireann","tag-donald-trump","tag-government","tag-headlines","tag-helen-mcentee","tag-hizbullah","tag-iran","tag-israel","tag-israel-iran-conflict","tag-keir-starmer","tag-lebanon","tag-news","tag-qatar","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-united-arab-emirates","tag-united-states","tag-united-nations-un"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/331239","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=331239"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/331239\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/331240"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=331239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=331239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=331239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}