Haaretz: Mossad Considered Ahmadinejad for Leadership of Iran After Regime Change
The Haaretz newspaper, in an investigative report, claimed that Mossad, as part of a plan for regime change in Iran, had established contact with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the former Iranian president, years ago and considered him as one of the candidates for leading Iran after the fall of the Islamic Republic.
According to this report, Mossad’s contacts with Ahmadinejad began about a year before the October 7, 2023 attack. Haaretz claims that Israeli intelligence assessments indicated that Ahmadinejad had become a critic of the regime after his presidency and that his views on sanctions and Iran’s nuclear program had changed.
The newspaper also claimed that David Barnea, the then head of Mossad, personally oversaw this operation and that after the start of the war in Iran, Ahmadinejad became one of Israel’s most important intelligence sources. According to Haaretz, if the regime change plan succeeded, he was supposed to take charge of the country during the transitional period.
Haaretz claims that this plan ultimately did not succeed, and disagreements among Israeli political and military officials on how to execute the operation prevented its realization. The newspaper stated that it spoke with more than 30 political, security, diplomatic officials, and foreign sources to prepare its report.