Iran has sharply condemned comments by former U.S. President Donald Trump, accusing Washington of openly pursuing a plan to dismantle Iran’s political structure and install new leadership.

Speaking at the 2026 Raisina Dialogue, Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Saeed Khatibzadeh said the United States had “joined” Israeli efforts aimed at changing Iran’s political system. He argued that Washington’s approach reflected a colonial mindset.

“The American have joined their (Israeli) policy of changing the political structure of Iran,” Khatibzadeh said.

He added that President Trump was calling for a change in Iran’s leadership while failing, in his words, to address governance at home. “President Trump is asking for change in the leadership of Iran and he says that I have to have a voice on that. Why cannot even appoint the Mayor of New York?” he said, prompting laughter and applause from the audience.

Khatibzadeh said Trump’s stance illustrated a contradiction between the U.S. leader’s advocacy for domestic democracy and his willingness to interfere in the affairs of another country. “Can you imagine this colonial approach that he would like to see democracy at home, but he would like to topple down a democratically elected President of Iran, and assassinating other countries,” he said. “This is the path that they are going, and this is the heroic resistance that we are doing.”

Trump, meanwhile, has publicly stated that he wants Iran’s current leadership removed entirely, telling NBC News that he intends to “clean out everything.”

“We want to go in and clean out everything,” Trump said in a phone interview. “We don’t want someone who would rebuild over a 10-year period.”

He also said he had specific individuals in mind to lead Iran after the conflict, though he declined to identify them. “We want them to have a good leader. We have some people who I think would do a good job,” he said.

Trump added that measures were being taken to protect those individuals. “We are watching them, yeah,” he said.

His comments followed remarks made days earlier in another NBC News interview, where he suggested he would eventually be consulted on Iran’s future leadership. Asked who would lead Iran next, Trump said, “I don’t know, but at some point they’ll be calling me to ask who I’d like,” adding that he was “only being a little sarcastic” when making the claim.