A revealing investigation by The New York Times has uncovered a years-long, covert operation by Israel’s foreign intelligence service, Mossad, aimed at approaching, recruiting—and later positioning—Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran’s former hardline president, as the country’s leader in the event of regime change.
According to the report, citing four senior Iranian officials, Israeli intelligence sought contact with Ahmadinejad over several years—not only to gather intelligence but also, at a later stage, to back him as a potential political alternative to lead Iran. The revelations take on added significance amid reports that Ahmadinejad is now under house arrest imposed by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards.
The Revolutionary Guards’ intelligence branch reportedly uncovered substantial evidence of Ahmadinejad’s contacts with Israeli actors. As a result, he was placed under house arrest—a move underscoring Tehran’s serious treatment of allegations involving ties with Israel, a country Iran officially regards as its principal strategic adversary in the Middle East.
Ahmadinejad himself has not issued any public statement addressing these claims. Neither have Israeli authorities officially commented on the report.
A Secret Meeting in Budapest
One of the most striking elements of the story centers on events in early 2024. A senior Hungarian government official reportedly asked Gergely Deli, rector of Budapest’s Ludovika University of Public Service, to invite Ahmadinejad to an international climate change conference. Deli later claimed he was told the event would serve as cover for clandestine talks between the former Iranian president and Israeli intelligence officials.
Though Deli expressed concerns about potential damage to the university’s reputation and his own professional standing, he ultimately agreed to extend the invitation—reasoning that dialogue between adversaries, however unconventional, could contribute to de-escalation.
According to former U.S. officials cited by The New York Times, David Barnea, head of Mossad, traveled personally to Budapest to meet Ahmadinejad. If confirmed, such a meeting would represent one of the highest-level secret contacts ever recorded between the two nations—given their decades-long enmity.
The report adds that Israeli agencies viewed Ahmadinejad—notwithstanding his gradual marginalization within Iran’s theocratic system—as still possessing political networks and access to key centers of power.