It has been reported that after Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was exposed as being supported by Israel's intelligence agency, Mossad, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has placed him under house arrest.

According to former U.S. officials, Israel took the recruitment of Ahmadinejad very seriously. In 2024, Israeli Intelligence Chief David Bania personally traveled to Hungary to meet with Ahmadinejad. Shortly thereafter, Mossad notified the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) that they had made contact with Ahmadinejad.

Subsequently, Israel decided to develop a "regime change plan" targeting Iran centered around Ahmadinejad. According to U.S. officials, in recent years, Israel has secretly funded Ahmadinejad’s housing and travel expenses worldwide, and Israeli agents have met with him multiple times abroad.

As reported by Xinhua on May 21, during the initial phase of the Iran conflict, Israel and the United States planned to use airstrikes to remove Ahmadinejad from surveillance and position him as the leader driving regime change in Iran. This plan was devised by Israel but quickly unraveled after Ahmadinejad narrowly escaped death.

Is Ahmadinejad no longer an anti-American fighter?

During his tenure as Iran’s president from 2005 to 2013, Ahmadinejad was the country’s most prominent hardliner. He was famously known as an anti-American figure who vowed to eliminate Israel and restarted Iran’s uranium enrichment program.

It is reported that in the years following his presidency, Ahmadinejad softened his anti-American stance, often eager to present himself as moderate—beginning to speak about Iran’s pop music culture. On appearance, he abandoned his iconic khaki trench coat and began wearing tailored suits. He trimmed his unkempt beard and started learning English.

Following the outbreak of the current U.S.-Iran war, Israel transferred Ahmadinejad—who had long been under tight surveillance—from abroad to Tehran, with the intention of launching a plan to overthrow the current regime and install Ahmadinejad as its new leader.

On February 28, Israeli forces conducted an airstrike on Ahmadinejad’s residence, but the goal was not to kill him—it was to create the illusion of his death. After the attack, a black Peugeot car arrived at the scene and swiftly transported Ahmadinejad away from the chaos. U.S. and Iranian officials familiar with the operation confirmed that the vehicle was driven by Mossad operatives, who took Ahmadinejad to a secret safe house in Iran.

However, according to informed sources, the former Iranian leader expressed dissatisfaction with this hastily arranged rescue operation and appeared disillusioned with Israel’s plan for him to reclaim power.

Eventually, Ahmadinejad left the safe house, though the exact circumstances remain unclear. Since then, he has not publicly appeared until July 6, when he briefly showed up in the procession at Ayatollah Khamenei’s funeral.

Videos show Ahmadinejad wearing a thick coat and pulling his mask down to his chin under sweltering heat of 32 degrees Celsius. The other two living former Iranian presidents were neither invited nor attended any funeral ceremonies. Standing with his head bowed in silence, surrounded by what appeared to be security personnel, Ahmadinejad remained largely silent throughout.

Currently, four senior Iranian officials have revealed that Ahmadinejad has been detained by the IRGC’s intelligence department and is under house arrest due to substantial evidence linking him to extensive communications with Israel.

Three Failed Presidential Campaign Attempts

Israel Exploits the Rift

According to one of Ahmadinejad’s close confidants, Ahmadinejad once confided in a small circle of his most trusted colleagues and friends that he hoped to become Iran’s future leader with foreign support.

As reported by Xinhua, Ahmadinejad served as Iran’s president from 2005 to 2013. He subsequently attempted to run for president again in 2017, 2021, and 2024—but each time faced obstruction. During this period, he gradually became a public critic of the Iranian government, “or at least estranged from the late Supreme Leader Khamenei.”

This close associate also revealed that Ahmadinejad feared that if war broke out and led to regime change, the U.S. and Israel might choose a dissident leader residing outside Iran who knew nothing about the country, potentially triggering instability. He told those around him that he could play the role of a reformer.

He claimed that if he came to power, Iran would recognize Israel and normalize relations based on Trump’s Abraham Accords.

Meanwhile, Israel seized upon the rift between Ahmadinejad and the current Iranian government to exploit the opportunity.

Iranian officials stated that during Ahmadinejad’s 2023 visit to Guatemala to attend an environmental conference, he had at least some contact with Israeli representatives. The following year, he made his first trip to Hungary to attend a conference at Ludwig University in Budapest, where he met with David Bania, then head of Mossad. At the time, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán maintained a close relationship with the Israeli government.

In June 2025, Ahmadinejad returned to Budapest, meeting with Israeli intelligence officers. During his trip, he managed to evade Iranian security personnel at least twice, disappearing for extended periods to hold various meetings.

Relations between Ahmadinejad and the current Iranian government were also complex. According to insiders, while top Iranian leaders marginalized him and restricted his movements, they simultaneously allowed him to retain a seat on a high-level advisory committee that provided recommendations directly to the Supreme Leader. Just days before the current war erupted, Ahmadinejad attended a meeting of this committee.

These unusual actions by Ahmadinejad began raising suspicions within the IRGC’s intelligence department. According to two IRGC members and one intelligence official familiar with the case, these suspicions intensified after Ahmadinejad began sending public letters to Donald Trump in 2017, and later to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Four officials stated that Israel’s initial attacks initially freed Ahmadinejad from IRGC surveillance, after which Iranian intelligence agencies launched investigations and gradually uncovered his connections with Israel.

By Qing Ying, Red Star News Reporter

(Source: Red Star News)

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Original article: toutiao.com/article/7662266631254475327/

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author.