Israel courted Iran’s former hardline president for post-regime role, reports claim

What Happened

According to reports by the New York Times and Haaretz, Israel actively sought to recruit former Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as a leader of a post-Islamic regime in Tehran, beginning in 2022 and continuing through at least 2025. The effort, dubbed Operation Puss in Boots, involved the Mossad, with then-director David Barnea traveling to Budapest to meet Ahmadinejad personally after the ex-president spoke at Ludovika University in 2025—two months after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the same institution. Israeli operatives allegedly paid Ahmadinejad for housing and travel and held multiple meetings, including while he visited Hungary. However, after US-Israeli military strikes on Iran on 28 February killed Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and struck a guard post near Ahmadinejad’s home in Tehran’s Narmak district, the former president disappeared. The Times, citing Iranian officials, reported that four Mossad agents drove Ahmadinejad to a Tehran safe house, but he became disillusioned and left under ‘mysterious circumstances.’ He is now believed to be in the custody of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps intelligence wing. Ahmadinejad, who had moderated his earlier Holocaust denial and calls for Israel’s destruction, had grown disaffected with the regime over its nuclear policies and his own sidelining after his 2009–2013 presidency.

Key Actors

Why It Matters

The recruitment drive reveals a bold Israeli attempt to exploit internal Iranian fractures and install a former hardline president—once a virulent anti-Zionist—as a post-theocratic figurehead. Ahmadinejad’s disaffection with Khamenei and the nuclear program, combined with his public image moderation, made him a candidate for a regime-change scenario that US and Israeli officials had long considered. The operation’s exposure amid the February 2025 strikes and Khamenei’s death underscores the high-stakes intelligence war and has direct implications for Iran’s succession struggle and the future of Israel-Iran confrontation.

Watch For

Monitor IRGC statements on Ahmadinejad’s status and any charges or trials; watch for Iranian reprisals or counter-intelligence purges. Track whether Israel or the US publicly acknowledges or distances itself from the operation, and watch for disclosures from Hungarian or Guatemalan authorities. Observe any shift in Israeli military or diplomatic posture toward Iran’s new leadership structure following Khamenei’s death.