Why the New York Times story on Mossad recruiting Ahmadinejad doesn't add up

Why the New York Times story on Mossad recruiting Ahmadinejad doesn't add up Submitted by Marco Carnelos on Thu, 07/23/2026 - 20:44 A toxic figure reviled across the West, the former Iranian president is among the least plausible candidates for an Israeli regime-change plot Former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad speaks in Tehran on 2 June 2024 (Atta Kenare/AFP) On The New York Times published an extraordinary investigation this month, asserting that Israel’s Mossad spent years cultivating former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as an intelligence asset, with the aim of installing him as leader of a post-Islamic-Republic Iran. The report, authored by a team of veteran investigative journalists, describes secret meetings in Budapest, encounters with then-Mossad chief David Barnea, covert payments, and a dramatic wartime extraction of Ahmadinejad from his bombed Tehran compound on 28 February. From this moment, the story becomes confused.

Ahmadinejad was allegedly led to a Mossad safe house inside Iran, but swiftly lost his trust in the Israelis and left. Whether he escaped or was allowed to exit remains unclear; either way, the tale tarnishes Mossad’s image, to say the least. Yet no matter how gripping the story might sound, upon closer examination, it is riddled with implausibilities, and deserving of far more scrutiny than the breathless coverage it has generated.

Those who know Iran’s complex power structure know perfectly well that the president is not the top decision maker. The supreme leader and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) hold all the major cards, possessing the country’s most delicate secrets and deep knowledge of its operations abroad. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); If Israel’s real intention was to recruit a major Iranian asset, its efforts should have been directed towards an aide to the supreme leader, a member of the Supreme National Security Council, or a top IRGC official.

The most immediately suspicious element of the story is its account of how the “recruitment” allegedly began: a Hungarian government official reportedly asked the rector of a Budapest university to invite Ahmadinejad to a climate change conference as cover for a meeting with Israeli intelligence operatives. Former Israeli intelligence professionals have themselves publicly balked at this description. Brigadier General (res) Hanan Geffen, a…