Office of Iran’s former leader denies a New York Times report on an Israeli plot to elevate him

Lynsey Chutel and Sanam Mahoozi

LONDON – A statement on the social media page of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the former Iranian president known for his hard-line anti-Israel stance, denied on July 14 that he was at the centre of a secret Israeli operation to groom him as an intelligence asset.

A New York Times investigation, citing US and Iranian officials familiar with the operation, reported that Israel had orchestrated a years-long plan to install Ahmadinejad as Iran’s new leader once the Iran war ended.

The plan included arranging a climate change conference in Hungary as a front that would allow the former president and Israeli intelligence operatives to meet for secret discussions.

The operation culminated in a dramatic rescue attempt early in the Iran war after Ahmadinejad’s home was hit in an air strike, but he became disillusioned and left the safe house where he was being kept, the Times reported, according to people with knowledge of what happened.

The statement from Ahmadinejad’s office denied what it called “Hollywood-style claims” designed to undermine his popularity.

The Times investigation, he said, “sought to exploit the political sensitivities arising from military threats” and was an example of “psychological warfare” against the public.

The degree of Ahmadinejad’s direct involvement in the statement could not be confirmed. The statement was signed by the former leader’s office, and at times referred to him in the third person. It was also published by a news outlet close to Ahmadinejad.

The Times cited four senior Iranian officials as saying that Ahmadinejad was under house arrest in the custody of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard’s intelligence wing, though his current status is unclear. The statement on Ahmadinejad’s social media page denied that he was under house arrest.

“The office of the former Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has made blatantly false accusations about our reporting in an attempt to manipulate public opinion,” said Nicole Taylor, a spokesperson for the Times, in a statement.

“Our July 13 exclusive was the ongoing work of a team of deeply sourced, expert reporters who first broke the story that the US and Israel had tapped Ahmadinejad to assume power in Iran as part of a regime change; we stand by their revelatory reporting as it continues.”

Israeli officials have not commented publicly about the plan to install Ahmadinejad as Iran’s leader. Ali Akbar Javanfekr, a spokesperson for Ahmadinejad, had declined to comment before the story was published.

As the president of Iran from 2005 to 2013, Ahmadinejad had threatened to “wipe Israel off the map”. But in recent years, he had clashed with regime leaders, accusing them of corruption, and toned down the anti-Israel rhetoric.

On Feb 28, early in the war, an Israeli air strike hit Ahmadinejad’s compound, targeting the building of his bodyguards and his armored vehicle.

After the strike, according to four senior Iranian officials, a black Peugeot car arrived, picked up Ahmadinejad and whisked him away at high speed.

At a safe house, the former Iranian leader became agitated by the operation and disillusioned with the plan, according to people with knowledge of what happened. It is not clear when he left the safe house and under what circumstances.

After the strike, Iran’s intelligence agencies began investigating and piecing together his connection to Israel, the Times reported.

• This article originally appeared in The New York Times.