Retired U.S. Army Gen. Wesley Clark told Newsmax on Sunday that the road ahead for Iran will be very challenging following the death of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
"We have groups who are prepared to go in and take over, but whether they have the means to do that or not is uncertain right now," Clark said. "If President Trump does talk to the residual government leader, he has to be told to stand down."
"We have to get another leader in there that we can trust and that can move the process of reformation of Iran forward," Clark added. "If that doesn't happen, if the current leader stands tall and said, No, no, I'm not changing anything, we're going to fight to the end and you can't have our nuclear materials, then I think we have to continue with the campaign and break down that resistance."
Clark said there are other groups that could be brought together to be a positive transitional government for Iran.
"It's going to take some leadership from the United States," Clark said.
Iran could be trying to sow as much chaos in the region as possible to force the United States to call off its campaign, Clark said.
"That's why they struck their neighbors," Clark said. "I believe they think that if they can cause all this confusion, get the Strait of Hormuz closed, stop that oil shipment, get everything stirred up in the region that someone's going to go to the United Nations, or maybe China or Russia will go to President Trump and say, You've got to stop this now, because we've got to have commerce and we've got to have our oil shipment through."
"From their perspective, they probably think the greater the chaos, the greater the opportunity to stop on their terms sooner," Clark added.
Clark said U.S. NATO allies are concerned about the possibility of terrorism and violence in their own countries from Iran.
"They're coming around," Clark said. "The fact that there's so much jubilation in the streets of Iran, the fact that there are not big demonstrations in France and Germany by sympathizers with the regime, is a good indicator of the future.
"These European allies will come on board with us."
GET TODAY NEWSMAX+:
NEWSMAX is the fastest-growing cable news channel in America with more than 30 million people watching!
Reuters Institute reports NEWSMAX is one of the top news brands in the U.S.
You need to watch NEWSMAX today.
Get it with great shows from Rob Schmitt, Greta Van Susteren, Greg Kelly, Carl Higbie, Rob Finnerty – and many more!
Find the NEWSMAX channel on your cable system – Go Here Now
BEST OFFER:
Sign up for NEWSMAX+ and get NEWSMAX, our streaming channel NEWSMAX2 and our military channel World at War.
Find hundreds of shows, movies and specials.
Even get Jon Voight’s special series and President Trump’s comedy programs and much more!
Watch NEWSMAX+ on your smartphone or home TV app.
Watch NEWSMAX anytime, anywhere!
Start your FREE trial now: NewsmaxPlus.com
Sam Barron ✉
Sam Barron has almost two decades of experience covering a wide range of topics including politics, crime and business.
© 2026 Newsmax. All rights reserved.