The New York Times, citing American, Israeli, and Iranian officials, reports that Israel for several years viewed former Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as a possible figure to lead the country if the current regime fell.
According to the newspaper, Israeli intelligence first made contact with Ahmadinejad in 2023 during a trip he took to Guatemala. The paper says he later held secret meetings abroad with Israeli intelligence representatives. In 2024, the then head of Mossad traveled to Budapest for talks with him, and Israel also paid for the former president’s lodging and travel, according to the sources. Further contacts took place during Ahmadinejad’s visit to Hungary in June 2025, the report says.
The operation reached its peak on February 28, 2026, in the first days of the war against Iran, according to people cited by the newspaper. After a strike on the grounds of Ahmadinejad’s residence, he was allegedly driven away in a black Peugeot to a secret shelter. NYT sources said the car was driven by Mossad officers who intended to trigger a plan for a change of power in Iran.
The plan then failed, the newspaper writes. Ahmadinejad was unhappy with the circumstances of the evacuation and likely became disillusioned with the idea of returning to power. He later left the safe house under unclear circumstances and was not seen in public again until July 6, when he briefly appeared at the funeral procession of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Iranian officials say the former president is now under house arrest and under the control of an intelligence unit of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Israel has not officially commented on the reported operation.
Ahmadinejad served as Iran’s president from 2005 to 2013 and was known as a hardliner: under his rule, Iran’s nuclear program advanced, calls for Israel’s destruction were repeatedly voiced, and the Holocaust was denied. After leaving office, NYT notes, he softened his rhetoric, and after being barred from presidential elections three times, concluded that he could not return to power under the current system. According to the newspaper’s sources, he was allegedly prepared to recognize Israel and normalize relations if the effort succeeded, presenting himself as a potential reformer “in the mold of Boris Yeltsin.”