Trump Claims Iran Offered to Make Him Supreme Leader: "I Said, No Thanks"

At the annual National Republican Congressional Committee fundraising dinner on March 25, 2026, Trump made the extraordinary claim that Iran had offered to make him their next Supreme Leader:

"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."

The claim was made in the context of the ongoing war that began when U.S.-Israeli strikes killed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on February 28. Iran has already elevated Mojtaba Khamenei — the former Supreme Leader's son — to the position.

Trump also doubled down on his insistence that Iran is secretly negotiating: "They are negotiating, by the way, and they want to make a deal so badly, but they're afraid to say it because they figure they'll be killed by their own people. They're also afraid they'll be killed by us."

Iran categorically denies any negotiations are taking place. Just hours earlier, Iran's military spokesperson had mocked Trump for "negotiating with yourself" and told him "You are fired." Iran has issued its own conditions for ending the war — including war reparations and recognition of its Strait of Hormuz authority — and continues active military operations including missile strikes on Israeli territory.

Some outlets characterized the remark as a joke about Iranian leaders not wanting the job. But Trump delivered it alongside his repeated insistence — stated as fact, not humor — that Iran is secretly negotiating and "wants to make a deal so badly." Whether joke or claim, telling a roomful of Republican donors that the country you are actively bombing wants you to be their theocratic dictator — while that country's military is simultaneously telling you "your era of empty promises has come to an end" — captures the disconnect between Trump's narrative and reality in the Iran war.