NYT: Iran detains Ahmadinejad under house arrest

Shafaq News- Tehran

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) placed former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad under house arrest after authorities uncovered part of his alleged contacts with Israel, the New York Times (NYT) reported on Monday.

According to the NYT, Israel involved a years-long intelligence operation aimed at recruiting Ahmadinejad and later positioning him as a potential leader of Iran in the event of regime change. The effort included attempts to arrange secret meetings between Ahmadinejad and Israeli intelligence officials, including a planned encounter in Budapest in early 2024 under the cover of a climate conference.

Quoting former US officials, the NYT noted that Tel Aviv operatives also maintained contacts with Ahmadinejad's spokesman, Ali Akbar Javanfekr, and that former Mossad chief David Barnea personally traveled to Budapest to meet the former Iranian president. Ahmadinejad later disappeared from public view before reappearing at the funeral of the late Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, after which senior Iranian officials said he had been detained and placed under house arrest.

The report also cited former Ahmadinejad adviser Abdolreza Davari saying the former president would not have cooperated with Israel for money but could have been motivated by political power. Another associate quoted by the newspaper claimed Ahmadinejad had previously expressed a desire to return to power with foreign backing and had spoken of normalizing relations with Israel through the Abraham Accords if he regained office.

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