How Israel’s Mossad tried to recruit Iran’s former president Ahmadinejad; what happened next
Israel’s intelligence agency Mossad allegedly spent years trying to recruit former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as part of a broader plan to overthrow Iran’s leadership and eventually install him as the country’s new leader.The New York Times report, citing American and Iranian officials familiar with the operation, claimed the effort included secret meetings in Hungary, financial support, and an attempted extraction of Ahmadinejad from Tehran during the opening days of the US-Israeli military op against Iran earlier this year. The plan, however, ultimately failed.The operation reportedly began taking shape in 2024 when Hungary’s Ludovika University of Public Service was asked by senior government officials to invite Ahmadinejad to a climate change conference in Budapest.The conference was allegedly intended to serve as a cover for secret meetings between Ahmadinejad and Israeli intelligence operatives. The university’s rector, Professor Gergely Deli, told NYT he was informed that the academic event would facilitate discussions between the two sides. He further added that he knew invitation could hit his own reputation and the university’s; but he believed he was likely playing a role in saving lives.The report also claimed that then-Mossad chief David Barnea travelled to Budapest in 2024 to meet Ahmadinejad personally. Former US officials told the newspaper that Mossad later informed the CIA it had established contact with the former Iranian president.
Recruitment effort
Israel is said to have continued to maintain contact with Ahmadinejad over the following months, with American officials alleging that Mossad provided him with financial assistance for housing and travel. Israeli operatives also reportedly met him during subsequent overseas trips, including another visit to Budapest in 2025.The recruitment effort was part of a wider Israeli strategy, allegedly to prepare an alternative leadership for Iran in the event of regime change. The operation formed part of a broader Israeli regime-change strategy that also included plans to support Iranian Kurdish opposition groups, though those efforts never materialised.The operation reportedly culminated in late February, shortly after the US-Israeli campaign against Iran began.According to American and Iranian officials cited by The New York Times, an Israeli airstrike targeted Ahmadinejad’s compound before Mossad operatives allegedly transported him from the site to a secret safe house inside Iran. This comes as media reports from few months back had claimed that the former Iran leader was killed.However, the report said Ahmadinejad became dissatisfied with the plan and later left the safe house under unclear circumstances. He was next seen publicly at the funeral procession of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei this month.The newspaper, citing four senior Iranian officials, reported that Ahmadinejad is now under house arrest and in the custody of the intelligence wing of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) after Iranian authorities uncovered details of his allegedcontacts with Israel.There have been no official confirmations from either Israel or Iran.
