Trump Reportedly Laughed at Claim Iran’s Leader May Be Gay
U.S. intelligence reportedly told Trump Mojtaba Khamenei may be gay, a claim officials say is “credible” that prompted laughter in the room.
President Donald Trump reportedly laughed aloud after being briefed by U.S. intelligence that Iran’s new Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, may be gay — and that his father, the late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, allegedly considered him unfit to rule for that reason.
According to the New York Post, Trump was stunned by the news, while others in the room reportedly found the intelligence “hilarious” and joined him in laughing at the irony — particularly given Iran’s harsh laws criminalizing homosexuality.
According to two intelligence community officials and a third person close to the White House, the allegation that the new Supreme Leader may be a closeted gay man is considered “credible” by U.S. spy agencies.
The younger Khamenei, 56, the second eldest of his father’s six children, was selected to lead the Islamic Republic on March 8, just over a week after the elder Khamenei was reportedly killed in a series of U.S. and Israeli missile strikes targeting Iran.
According to the Post, two sources said the briefing indicated that Mojtaba Khamenei — nicknamed “the power behind the robes” for serving as his aging father’s gatekeeper — has had a long-term sexual relationship with his childhood tutor.
A third source told the newspaper that the intelligence indicated the alleged affair was with a person who formerly worked for the Khamenei family.
The younger Khamenei, who has not appeared publicly or on video since the February 28 airstrike that killed his father, wife, one of his two sons, and other family members, is believed to have been “wounded and likely disfigured” in the assault, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said at a Pentagon press conference last Friday. A March 11 report from The New York Times said Mojtaba Khamenei suffered leg injuries in the strike, although the extent of those injuries remains unknown.
One source told the Post that intelligence officials claim Mojtaba Khamenei made “aggressive” sexual overtures to men caring for him after he was injured, possibly while under the influence of heavy medication.
There is no known photographic evidence of the alleged trysts or overtures, but sources insist the information is credible, with one saying it was “derived from one of the most protected sources that the government has.”
“The fact that this was elevated to the highest of high levels shows you there’s some confidence in this,” a second source said.
Mojtaba Khamenei’s sexual orientation has long been the subject of speculation, with intelligence sources allegedly gathering information about Iran’s new Supreme Leader.
A classified 2008 U.S. diplomatic cable, published by WikiLeaks, claims Mojtaba Khamenei married “relatively late in life” — around age 30 — “reportedly due to an impotency problem treated and eventually resolved during three extended visits to the UK, at Wellington and Cromwell Hospitals in London.” The leaked cable also states, “Mojtaba was expected by his family to produce children quickly, but needed a fourth visit to the UK for medical treatment; after a stay of two months, his wife became pregnant.”
A March 15 CBS News report also alluded to rumors about Mojtaba Khamenei’s alleged homosexuality, noting that the late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei preferred a different successor in part due to unspecified “issues” in Mojtaba’s “personal life.” That was bolstered by a New York Times report that the former Supreme Leader had given senior advisers three names for potential successors prior to being killed — and that his son’s name was not among them.
According to the Daily Beast, multiple sources claim the elder Khamenei had concerns about his son succeeding him, saying he was “perceived as not very bright, and viewed as unqualified to be leader.” But the Post reports some Iranian leaders have engaged in a whisper campaign alleging Mojtaba Khamenei is gay since the May 2024 helicopter crash that killed then-President Ebrahim Raisi, who was widely viewed as Ali Khamenei’s preferred successor.
“His father and others suspected he was gay and that was something that people were spreading to try to stop his ascension,” a source familiar with Trump’s intelligence briefing told the Post.
If true, revelations about the younger Khamenei’s sexual orientation could be incredibly damaging to his reputation. Same-sex conduct is illegal in Iran, and some gay Iranians have been publicly executed, including by hanging from construction cranes as a warning to others. In some cases, the government allows surgical sex reassignment, which some gay men are pressured to undergo to avoid prosecution.
One of the Post’s sources said that although it is generally frowned upon to out people against their will, there is a clear case of hypocrisy in doing so with Mojtaba Khamenei.
“If there was ever a time where it was OK to out somebody, it would be when it’s a leader of a repressive Islamic theocracy that hangs gay people by cranes,” the source said.
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