Reuters: US President Donald Trump said Thursday he should be involved in choosing Iran’s next supreme leader as the US and Israel hammered the country for a sixth day.
Iran kept up its retaliatory attacks on Israel, American bases and countries around the region.
Speaking to American news website Axios, Trump ruled out Mojtaba Khamenei, a front-runner to replace his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in the opening strikes of the war.
Trump derided the 56-year-old Mojtaba, who has never been elected or appointed to a government position, as “a lightweight.”
“We want someone who will bring harmony and peace to Iran,” Trump said.
“I have to be involved in the appointment, like with Delcy in Venezuela,” said Trump, referring to the acting president in the South American country.
Delcy Rodriguez took power in January after Trump ordered a US military operation to capture Nicolas Maduro and whisk him to the US to face federal drug conspiracy charges.
Trump’s comments were likely to renew questions about whether the US and Israel seek the overthrow of the Islamic Republic or just a change in its policies.
Israel’s defence minister, Israel Katz, said this week that Iran’s next supreme leader – if he continues to threaten Israel, the US and others – “will be a target for elimination”.
Dele Fashomi, seasoned journalist and communication teacher, is a holder of Master of Arts degree in Communication and Language Arts from the University of Ibadan in 1992/93.
Earlier, he had bagged a Bachelor degree from the same university in 1984, after which he proceeded to the Nigerian Institute of Journalism, Lagos, in 1990, for a postgraduate diploma in Journalism.
He had done many courses in communication, including the EU-BBC Editing Course in 2002.
Mr. Fashomi combines effectively the practice, research and teaching of communication. And to date, he has published two academic works in communication: Issues in Communication Technology and Policy (2010) and Economic and Social Issues in Advertising and PR (2013).
He had his first break in the Nigerian media in Concord Newspapers in 1990 and today, he has over two and half decades experience earned in several newspapers.
He has been part of many start-ups, such as The Republic (1987), The Comet (1999), The Anchor 2001 – 2002; Sun Newspapers (2003); Westerner newsmagazine (2005 – 2010) as Editor; National Life (2011) as Sunday Editor, and Newswatch Newspapers (2012- 2016) as Daily Editor.
Dele Fashomi is now the Publisher/Editor-in-Chief of Newstide247.com newspaper online, which he started in July 2015. He is also into biography writing, with many books in his trail, some of which he wrote alone and one he co- authored with his mentor, Mr Dare Babarinsa, entitled: Olabiyi Durojaiye – DARE TO BE DiFFERENT. He also guided and collaborated with Pa Olatunji Odusanya in writing his autobiography – AGAINST ALL ODDS. There are many other books in the works under his pen.
