According to a source, Israeli intelligence surreptitiously nurtured former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who was formerly regarded as one of Israel's harshest critics, for years in an effort to position him as Iran's future leader.
The New York Times stated that after Ahmadinejad had a falling out with Iran's current leadership, Mossad, Israel's espionage agency, attempted to establish a relationship with him, according to American, Iranian, and former intelligence officials.
After leaving office in 2013, Ahmadinejad's ties with Iranian leadership deteriorated. According to the story, he was prevented from running for president three times and eventually started criticizing some of Iran's leaders.He thought that only if the current political structure was altered would he be able to regain power. Israeli intelligence reportedly saw this as an opportunity and started contacting him.
According to the study, one of the covert encounters happened in 2024 in Budapest, Hungary. Ahmadinejad was invited to speak at a climate change symposium at Ludovika University. However, the university's rector, Gergely Deli, informed the publication that Ahmadinejad had private conversations with Israeli intelligence officers during the meeting.
Ahmadinejad reportedly met with Mossad officials once more when he returned to Hungary in 2025. According to former US officials who talked to the publication, David Barnea, the chief of the Mossad at the time, even traveled to Budapest to see Ahmadinejad.The article claims that Israel surreptitiously paid for Ahmadinejad's travel and accommodations during these meetings.Ahmadinejad wouldn't act in this way for financial gain. He is wealthy and well-connected in the business world. He would act in this way to get authority. Ahmadinejad's former close partner and senior adviser, Abdolreza Davari, stated, "He wants to be at the head of power."
According to the source, the operation came to an end in the early stages of this year's US-Israeli war on Iran. It stated that Ahmadinejad's Tehran compound was struck by an Israeli airstrike. He was supposedly transported to a covert safe house inside Iran shortly after the attack by a black Peugeot vehicle piloted by Mossad agents.But the plan didn't work out. The article claims that Ahmadinejad lost faith in Israel's overarching strategy to reinstate him after growing dissatisfied with the operation. Later, for unknown reasons, he departed the safe home.
Ahmadinejad's purported contacts with Israel were eventually uncovered by Iranian authorities. It stated that Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) intelligence branch was keeping an eye on him when he was placed under house detention.
Ahmadinejad vanished entirely from public view after leaving the safe residence. For several months, no one saw him. Last Monday, he made his public debut by briefly attending the burial procession of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader.
Mossad and Israeli officials have not responded to the accusations. A spokeswoman for Ahmadinejad declined to respond as well.