President Donald Trump confirmed on Thursday that the CIA told him the new supreme leader of Iran, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, is gay.
Trump was asked by Jesse Watters during an appearance on Fox News’s The Five if it was true he’d been told by the CIA about the ayatollah’s sexual orientation.
“Well, they did say that, but I don’t know if it was only them. I think a lot of people are saying that,” Trump said, “which puts him off to a bad start in that particular country.”
In Iran, sexual activity between individuals of the same sex is illegal and punishable by death.
The New York Post reported the revelation earlier this month, saying the CIA briefed Trump that Mojtaba Khamenei’s father, the late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, feared his son’s sexuality made him unsuitable to lead the Iranian regime.
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Ali Khamenei was killed in a strike at the beginning of Operation Epic Fury, and Mojtaba Khamenei is believed to have been severely injured in the same attack. He has not been seen publicly since then, with broadcasters reading statements purportedly from him instead of direct addresses to the masses.
“Nobody heard of the second supreme leader, the son. We have not heard from the son,” Trump said earlier this week. “Every once in a while, you see a statement made, but we don’t know if he’s living.”
