US President Donald Trump stated that the CIA informed him Iran’s newly appointed Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, may be gay. He quipped to Fox News that this revelation puts the cleric “off to a bad sta.” Homosexual conduct remains illegal under Iran’s Islamic law.
Previous Remarks and Context
Trump has previously dismissed Mojtaba Khamenei as a “lightweight” and an “unacceptable” leader. These comments arise amid ongoing US and Israeli military actions against Iran, which escalated following the assassination of former Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei late last month.
US and Israeli officials have pushed for regime change in Tehran, but the government has held firm. The New York Times repoed on Sunday that the Trump administration initially suppoed an Israeli proposal for a coup sholy after the conflict began. Despite doubts from US intelligence, Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hoped the strike on Iran’s leadership would trigger a popular uprising. The effo fell sho, leading to Mojtaba Khamenei’s swift appointment as the new leader.
Current Situation in Iran
Mojtaba Khamenei has stayed out of the public eye since sustaining injuries in the attack that killed his father. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi rejected claims that eliminating top officials would destabilize the nation. “The Islamic Republic of Iran has a strong political structure with established political, economic, and social institutions,” he told Al Jazeera last week. “The presence or absence of a single individual does not affect this structure.”
Former Mossad official Rami Igra described the US-Israeli approach of targeting leadership to spark a revolution as a “miscalculation.” He emphasized that a successful revolution demands a popular movement, local leadership, and armed control—elements absent in Iran. Critics argue such statements from US leaders only strengthen Iranian resolve against Washington.
