Donald Trump said Iran informally offered them the post of Supreme Leader, which he turned down by saying, “No, thank you.”

Speaking at the annual National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) fundraising dinner on Wednesday (March 25), Trump reportedly said, “There’s never been a head of a country that wanted that job less than being the head of Iran. We hear them very clearly. They say, ‘I don’t want it. We’d like to make you the next supreme leader.’ No, thank you. I don’t want it.”

His latest claim comes after Iran clearly stated that no one from Iran is talking to anyone in the United States. Trump has repeatedly asserted in the past few days that backchannel talks have been going on between the regime and the US, and that Iran wanted to “make a deal.” But Iran has categorically rubbished his claims. Tehran has labelled his claims as “maximalist and unreasonable”, clarifying they do not engage in negotiations with the US.

Notably, Iran announed Mojatab Khamenei as their new Supreme Leader after his father, Ali Khamenei was killed in Israeli strikes on February 28.

Iran mocked Trump by saying that America is apparently talking to itself. “Has the level of your inner ⁠struggle reached the stage ⁠of you negotiating with yourself?” Ebrahim Zolfaqari, spokesperson for the unified command of Iran’s armed ⁠forces, Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, said on Wednesday, according to Iran’s semiofficial Fars news agency. Trump also presented a 15-point peace plan, which Iran has rejected. White House has threatened the regime with dire consequences if it does not accept a deal to end the war. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said, “If Iran fails to accept the reality of the current moment, if they fail to understand that they have been defeated militarily and will continue to be, President Trump will ensure they are hit harder than they have ever been hit before.” (WION)