Donald Trump was reportedly briefed last week in the US that Iran's new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, may be gay, prompting 'solid' laughter from the president and senior officials, according to current and former intelligence sources speaking to the New York Post. The unverified claim regarding Khamenei's sexuality, which US spy agencies are said to consider credible, concerns a man now at the centre of Iran's opaque power structure following the death of his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, on Feb. 28.
The news came after weeks of turmoil inside Iran's ruling elite, following the airstrike that killed the elder Khamenei and other family members and the rapid elevation of Mojtaba, 56, to the role of supreme leader on March 8. Mojtaba had long been described by analysts and dissidents as a powerful behind-the-scenes figure, nicknamed 'the power behind the robes' while serving as gatekeeper to his increasingly frail father, who had ruled the Islamic Republic since 1989.
