NEW YORK, JUL 13: Israel spent years cultivating former Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as part of a failed plan to install him as Iran’s new leader during this year’s war, the New York Times reported on Monday, citing American, Israeli and Iranian officials familiar with the operation.
According to the report, Israeli intelligence maintained secret contacts with Ahmadinejad, including meetings in Budapest during trips to Hungary in 2024 and 2025 that were arranged under the cover of academic conferences. Former Mossad chief David Barnea was among those who met Ahmadinejad in the Hungarian capital, the newspaper said.
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The effort culminated in late February, during the opening days of the US-Israeli war against Iran, when Israeli operatives allegedly sought to extract Ahmadinejad from Tehran as part of a broader regime-change operation, the report said. The plan ultimately failed.
The New York Times reported that an Israeli airstrike hit Ahmadinejad’s compound before Mossad operatives allegedly moved him to a safe house inside Iran. Ahmadinejad later left the safe house under unclear circumstances and reappeared publicly only last week at the funeral procession of Iran’s late supreme leader Ali Khamenei.
The report said four senior Iranian officials believe Ahmadinejad is now under house arrest in the custody of the intelligence branch of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) after authorities uncovered details of his alleged contacts with Israel.
Israeli officials did not comment on the alleged operation, while Ahmadinejad’s spokesman declined to comment, according to the newspaper.
