A daring Israel-US plan to reshape Tehran collapsed after Ahmadinejad was injured and vanished.
A reported joint Israeli-American operation to position former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as the head of a new government in Tehran collapsed on the first day of the war, according to officials cited by The New York Times.
The secret plan was reportedly designed to exploit the removal of Iran’s top theocratic leadership and create a pathway for regime change. American officials said an Israeli Air Force strike targeted Ahmadinejad’s heavily guarded residence in eastern Tehran, with the aim of eliminating the IRGC guards allegedly holding him under house arrest.
The strike reportedly destroyed the security position near the entrance of the street, but Ahmadinejad was injured in the blast. Initial reports suggested he had been killed, but he survived. Associates later said the near-death experience left him deeply disillusioned with the regime-change effort. His current location and condition remain unknown.
The reported selection of Ahmadinejad stunned many observers. During his presidency, he accelerated Iran’s nuclear program, crushed domestic opposition, denied the Holocaust, and repeatedly threatened Israel. His later clashes with the Iranian regime, public corruption accusations, and occasional praise for Trump appear to have made him a strange but possible candidate for use against Tehran’s ruling clerics.
The Mossad declined comment, while the White House defended the broader military campaign, saying its goals were to destroy Iran’s missiles, weaken its proxies, and end its nuclear threat.
