Donald Trump reportedly mocks Iran’s supreme leader after being briefed on claims about his sexuality

Donald Trump allegedly laughed when he was briefed that Iran’s new supreme leader may be gay, according to the New York Post.

Mojtaba Khamenei, who succeeded his late father Ali Khamenei after he was killed in US–Israeli airstrikes, was reportedly the subject of intelligence claims about his sexuality.

Critics have described the claims as “manufactured”, “dark” and “paradoxical”, given that homosexuality is illegal in Iran and punishable by death under Sharia-based law.

Gender affirming surgery for trans people is legal in Iran

While homosexuality is criminalised, gender affirming surgery for trans people is permitted and even state-subsidised, though it has reportedly been encouraged in some cases involving same-sex attraction, which is not legally recognised.

Sky News Australia contributor Kosha Gada said on the channel that the claims are “almost too perfect”.

“The intelligence community… all of them, including the US, are not exactly trustworthy in general,” she said, adding that there has been no proper verification as yet.

Trump and one senior intelligence official were amongst those who laughed at the claims Iran’s new supreme leader may be gay

Trump was not the only one who allegedly responded offensively to the claims. The Post reported that one senior intelligence official “has not stopped laughing about it for days”.

Despite the recent allegations regarding Mojtaba’s sexuality, Trump has questioned whether he is even alive after reports emerged that he was injured during an airstrike.

“We don’t know… if he’s dead or not. I will say that nobody has seen him, which is unusual,” he said during an event at the White House.

The 2026 Iran war began on 28 February 2026, when the US and Israel launched surprise airstrikes on multiple sites and cities across Iran, assassinating the late supreme leader.