If there was ever a time when 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.
In the uncertain weeks following the death of Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, American intelligence agencies briefed President Trump on what they considered credible assessments of his successor, Mojtaba Khamenei — namely, that the new Supreme Leader may be gay. The disclosure, sourced to protected intelligence assets and elevated to the highest levels of government, sits at the intersection of geopolitics, personal vulnerability, and the ethics of exposure. In a country where homosexual conduct is a capital offense, such information is not merely biographical — it is, potentially, a matter of life, power, and the architecture of a theocratic state.
- US intelligence agencies briefed Trump with what they describe as credible — not rumored — evidence that Iran's newly installed Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei may be gay, sourced from some of the government's most protected assets.
- Trump reportedly laughed for days upon hearing the assessment, but the levity masked a serious geopolitical calculation: Mojtaba is considered unlikely to yield to American pressure on Iran's nuclear and missile programs.
- The alleged evidence includes a reported long-term relationship with a childhood tutor and claims of sexual advances toward male caregivers during Mojtaba's recovery from the February airstrike that killed his father and wife.
- Rumors about Mojtaba's sexuality had already circulated inside Iran since 2024, and sources suggest his father may have preferred a different successor partly because of concerns about his son's personal life.
- The disclosure carries lethal stakes: in Iran, sodomy is a capital offense, gay men have been publicly executed, and the regime's own laws make this intelligence a potential instrument of destruction as much as diplomacy.
When American intelligence officials sat down with President Trump in early March to brief him on Iran's newly installed Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, the assessment they brought was unusual: they believed the 56-year-old cleric was gay. Trump, according to a senior intelligence official, found this deeply amusing. But three separate sources — two from the intelligence community, one close to the White House — insisted the agencies treated the claim as credible, not as rumor or disinformation.
The intelligence reportedly pointed to a long-term relationship between Mojtaba and a childhood tutor, as well as alleged sexual advances toward male caregivers during his recovery from the February airstrike that killed his father, his wife Zahra, and their teenage son. No photographs or video existed, but one source said the information came from among the government's most protected assets, and its elevation to presidential briefing level was itself taken as a signal of confidence.
Rumors about Mojtaba's sexuality had circulated inside Iran since at least May 2024. A WikiLeaks-released State Department cable from 2008 documented his treatment for impotence at London hospitals, a late marriage, and delayed fatherhood — details some sources said lent circumstantial weight to the allegations. CBS News had separately reported that the elder Khamenei had preferred a different successor, citing unspecified issues in Mojtaba's personal life.
The backdrop is unsparing. In Iran, homosexual conduct is illegal and sodomy is a capital offense. Gay men have been publicly executed. One source who spoke to the press acknowledged the ethical weight of outing anyone, but argued the context — a theocratic regime that executes gay men — made disclosure justifiable. The intelligence community had chosen to place this information before the president not merely as biography, but as a lens through which to understand the stability, vulnerability, and decision-making of the man now leading one of America's most consequential adversaries.
In early March, as Iran's government was still settling into its new leadership structure following the death of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, American intelligence officials sat down with President Trump to brief him on classified assessments of the man who would replace him. The new Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, 56, had been selected on March 8. What the intelligence community wanted Trump to know, according to sources who spoke to the New York Post, was that they believed the younger Khamenei was gay.
The president found this hilarious. According to a senior intelligence official quoted in the report, Trump "has not stopped laughing about it for days." Others in the briefing room laughed as well. But beneath the amusement lay something more serious: three separate sources—two from the intelligence community and one close to the White House—told the newspaper that US spy agencies did not view this as rumor or disinformation. They considered it credible.
The intelligence, these sources said, pointed to a long-term sexual relationship between Mojtaba and his childhood tutor, or possibly someone else who had worked for the Khamenei family. One source described an incident during Mojtaba's recovery from an airstrike in late February that had killed his father and other family members. While recuperating, possibly under heavy medication, Mojtaba allegedly made what were characterized as aggressive sexual advances toward male caregivers. The agencies had no photographs or video evidence, but one source insisted the information came "from one of the most protected sources that the government has." Another official noted that the fact this assessment had been elevated to the highest levels of government suggested real confidence in its reliability.
Rumors about Mojtaba's sexuality had been circulating inside Iran itself since at least May 2024, when a helicopter crash killed then-president Ebrahim Raisi, who had been widely expected to succeed his father. Some details from Mojtaba's own medical history seemed to lend weight to the allegation. A classified State Department cable from 2008, later released by WikiLeaks, documented that Mojtaba had sought treatment in London for impotence, visiting Wellington Hospital and Cromwell Hospital during multiple trips. According to the cable, he married relatively late, around age 30, and only after receiving additional medical treatment did his wife become pregnant. His family had apparently expected him to produce children quickly, but medical issues had delayed that outcome.
That wife, Zahra, and their teenage son Mohammad Bagher died in the same February airstrike that killed his father. Mojtaba is believed to have another son and a daughter. CBS News had separately reported that the elder Khamenei had preferred a different successor, citing unspecified "issues" in Mojtaba's personal life. One source told the Post that "his father and others suspected he was gay, and that was something that people were spreading to try to stop his ascension."
The context for this disclosure is stark. In Iran, homosexual conduct is illegal. Sodomy is a capital offense. While the government permits gender reassignment surgery, reports suggest gay men are sometimes pressured into undergoing such procedures to avoid criminal penalties. Gay men have been executed publicly as warnings. In 2007, former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad famously declared, "In Iran, we don't have homosexuals."
One of the sources who spoke to the Post acknowledged the ethical complexity of outing anyone, but argued the circumstances justified it. "If there was ever a time when 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. The disclosure also carried geopolitical weight. Trump had previously dismissed Mojtaba as a "lightweight" and "unacceptable" choice to lead Iran. Intelligence assessments suggested he was unlikely to yield to American pressure on Iran's nuclear and ballistic missile programs.
As of the time of reporting, Mojtaba Khamenei's current whereabouts and the full extent of his recovery from the airstrike remained unclear. The intelligence community had chosen to brief the president on what it believed to be credible information about the new Supreme Leader's personal life—information that, in the context of Iran's laws and the nature of the regime, carried implications both for his decision-making and for his own safety should it become public.
Notable Quotes
Trump found the claim hilarious and has not stopped laughing about it for days— Senior intelligence official quoted by the New York Post
His father and others suspected he was gay, and that was something that people were spreading to try to stop his ascension— US intelligence source
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
Why would US intelligence prioritize briefing the president on the sexual orientation of Iran's new leader? What does that tell you about a person's fitness to govern?
It doesn't tell you anything about fitness to govern. But it might tell you something about leverage, or about how a leader might be vulnerable to blackmail, or how he might make decisions under pressure. In a theocracy where this information could get you killed, knowing it exists changes the calculus.
But they briefed Trump, and he laughed. Does that suggest they weren't taking it seriously?
Trump laughed. That doesn't mean the intelligence officials weren't serious. They elevated it to the highest levels precisely because they thought it was credible and consequential. The laughter might have been discomfort, or dismissal, or genuine amusement. We don't know what Trump did with the information after.
The source who justified outing him said it was acceptable because Iran executes gay people. Isn't that a dangerous precedent—using someone's sexuality as a weapon against them, even if the regime is repressive?
Yes. It's a genuine ethical problem. You're using the same vulnerability that makes someone a target in their own country as a tool in geopolitical strategy. The source's logic is that the regime is so brutal that normal rules don't apply. But that's a choice someone else made for Mojtaba Khamenei.
What does it mean that rumors had been circulating in Iran since 2024? That his own father apparently knew?
It means this wasn't a secret the Americans uncovered. It was already part of the political conversation inside Iran. His father may have preferred someone else partly because of it. So when the Americans brief Trump on it, they're not revealing something hidden—they're confirming something that was already shaping Iranian politics.
The medical records from 2008 about impotence treatment—how does that become evidence of sexual orientation?
It doesn't, directly. But in the context of everything else—the rumors, the alleged relationships, the late marriage, the family pressure to produce heirs—it becomes part of a pattern. Intelligence work is often about assembling fragments into a picture. Whether that picture is accurate is another question entirely.