Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the former president of Iran, who recently appeared at the funeral of former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, harbored ambitions to return to power with the help of foreign forces, according to a report by The New York Times on July 13. Ahmadinejad reportedly envisioned a reform agenda that included normalizing relations with Israel if he were to regain the presidency. This news follows a report two months ago that revealed attempts by the U.S. and Israel to reinstate Ahmadinejad in Iran's leadership.
According to the newspaper, Israel's outreach to Ahmadinejad began in 2024 during a climate change conference at Hungary's Ludovika Public Service University. The Hungarian government had requested this event to facilitate a secret meeting between Ahmadinejad and agents from Israel's Mossad intelligence agency in Budapest. Gergely Deli, the university's president, stated in an interview with NYT, "If two enemies want to talk, the best way is to facilitate that conversation." During this meeting, David Barnea, the head of Mossad, personally traveled to Hungary to meet with Ahmadinejad.
Following this, Israel decided to support a regime change centered around Ahmadinejad. Reports indicate that Israel secretly provided him with housing and travel expenses, and Israeli agents met with him abroad, including in Budapest. On February 28, the day of an Israeli airstrike, an operation was executed to rescue him from house arrest, which was under the surveillance of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Four senior Iranian officials reported that after the airstrike on his home, a black Peugeot vehicle driven by Mossad agents picked up Ahmadinejad and sped away. However, Ahmadinejad expressed displeasure with both the operation and Israel's plans to restore him to power.
Given Ahmadinejad's past, his communication with Israel seems unlikely. During his presidency, he made inflammatory statements, claiming that the U.S. orchestrated the 9/11 attacks to support Israel and called for Israel to be "wiped off the map." He also violently suppressed protests against his re-election in 2009.
Abdolreza Davari, a close aide to Ahmadinejad, analyzed that his desire for power led to his communication with Israel. After being rejected in three presidential bids, Ahmadinejad became disillusioned with the current theocratic regime led by clerics and sought to become Iran's future leader with foreign assistance, according to NYT. Davari stated, "Ahmadinejad has money and a vast economic network. What he wanted was power."
Ahmadinejad also compared himself to former Russian President Boris Yeltsin, who led reforms and openness during the dissolution of the Soviet Union in the 1990s. He indicated that if he were to return to power, he would recognize Israel as a state and normalize relations with Israel as part of the Abraham Accords signed by President Donald Trump with Middle Eastern countries.
Before his contacts with Israel through Hungary, Ahmadinejad attended an environmental conference in Guatemala in 2023, noted for being a pro-Israel country in Latin America. At that time, he faced difficulties at Tehran airport, where security authorities initially denied him a boarding pass, leading to a several-hour standoff before he could depart.
After the failed Israeli operation to reinstate him, Ahmadinejad reportedly returned to house arrest. He was seen on July 6 at Khamenei's funeral in Tehran, where he walked among mourners, lowering his mask and keeping his head down. Iranian news outlet IranWire commented that Ahmadinejad's attendance at the funeral reflects a complex survival strategy among marginalized elites navigating an unstable transition under a new regime. Former presidents Hassan Rouhani and Mohammad Khatami were not invited to the event, according to NYT.
* This article has been translated by AI.
Copyright ⓒ Aju Press All rights reserved.