HOW ISRAEL’S MOSSAD TRIED TO RECRUIT IRAN’S FORMER PRESIDENT AHMADINEJAD FOR REGIME CHANGE PLOT

Mon 13 July 2026:

Israel reportedly conducted a years-long covert operation aimed at recruiting former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as an intelligence asset before developing a plan for regime change that would have installed him as Iran’s new leader, according to a report by The New York Times citing former US officials. The operation ultimately failed.

According to several former US officials, Israel’s intelligence agency, the Mossad, maintained secret contacts with Ahmadinejad for several years. During that period, he allegedly received Israeli financial support to cover travel and accommodation expenses, while a series of confidential meetings reportedly took place abroad, particularly in Budapest.

The operation was reportedly considered so significant that then-Mossad Director David Barnea personally met Ahmadinejad in the Hungarian capital in 2024. Shortly afterward, the Mossad is said to have informed the CIA that it had successfully established a communication channel with the former Iranian president.

Israeli officials reportedly viewed Ahmadinejad as a potential figurehead for a future regime change in Iran, despite his long record of hostility toward Israel. During his presidency, Ahmadinejad accelerated Iran’s nuclear program, repeatedly called for the destruction of the Jewish state, and made widely condemned statements denying the Holocaust.

__________________________________________________________________________

https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaAtNxX8fewmiFmN7N22

__________________________________________________________________________

According to the report, the plan was intended to reach its decisive phase in late February 2026, during the opening stages of the war involving the United States, Israel, and Iran. An Israeli airstrike reportedly targeted Ahmadinejad’s residential compound in Tehran, destroying the building that housed his security detail as well as his armored vehicle.

Shortly after the strike, Mossad operatives allegedly extracted Ahmadinejad from the area and transported him to a secret safe house inside Iran. However, according to the report, the former president soon became increasingly distrustful of the operation and rejected the Israeli-backed plan to restore him to power.

Ahmadinejad’s current status is unclear, according to the report. He was seen briefly surrounded by guards — masked and wearing a heavy coat — at the funeral for slain supreme leader Ali Khamenei and is believed to be in IRGC custody over his ties with Israeli intelligence.

Hungary invited Ahmadinejad to a 2024 climate change conference in Budapest to allow him to meet Barnea, The Times reports. According to the report, Ludovika University of Public Service Rector Gergely Deli was asked by a senior Hungarian official to invite Ahmadinejad, telling him the invitation was a cover for the Holocaust-denying former president to meet with Mossad agents.

Ahmadinejad, a virulently anti-Israel conservative, served two four-year terms from 2005 to 2013, during which he repeatedly denied the Holocaust, called to destroy Israel, and hinted that the Islamic Republic could build a nuclear weapon if it chose to do so.

After Ahmadinejad left office, authorities repeatedly disqualified him from running in subsequent elections.

In recent years, he became a critic of the regime led by Khamenei, accusing senior officials of corruption and poor governance.

Ahmadinejad began presenting a more moderate stance publicly, and established himself as an advocate for regular Iranians.

According to the paper, Ahmadinejad eventually accepted that he could not return to power under the current regime and saw foreign intervention as his path back to leadership. A close associate tells The Times that he saw himself as a reformer, and that Iran would recognize Israel when he came to power.

He was also concerned that the US and Israel would impose an outsider, and that the country would descend into chaos.

Israel had contact with Ahmadinejad during a 2023 trip to an environmental conference in Guatemala, The Times reports. The former president was initially stopped from flying by Iranian security services, but social media posts and a sit-in convinced authorities to let him fly.

Ahmadinejad met with Israeli agents in Budapest a second time in June 2025, days before Israel carried out the opening strikes of its 12-day campaign against the regime, according to the newspaper. He twice managed to shake his IRGC bodyguards during the trip.

Israel paid Ahmadinejad for housing and travel, according to the report.

Israel’s plan to topple the regime, which included a Kurdish uprising, failed, and the regime remains firmly in control of the country.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

__________________________________________________________________________

FOLLOW INDEPENDENT PRESS:

WhatsApp CHANNEL
https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaAtNxX8fewmiFmN7N22