Mossad secretly tried to recruit Iran's former President Ahmadinejad in failed regime change plot - report
According to The New York Times, the Mossad maintained years-long secret contacts with former Iranian President Ahmadinejad and planned to install him as Iran's leader before the operation collapsed
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.
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.