After the New York Times Report on His Alleged Arrest, Ahmadinejad Appears at Memorial for Khamenei

A day after the dramatic investigation by The New York Times was published, Iranian networks circulated footage on Tuesday showing former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad attending a memorial ceremony for Ali Khamenei, Iran’s former leader. His public appearance comes amid claims in the report that he was arrested by the Revolutionary Guards after allegedly being recruited by Israel as part of a long running covert program.

According to the investigation, the affair began in 2024, when the rector of Ludovika University in Budapest received an unusual request from a senior Hungarian government official. The official asked him to organize a conference on climate change and invite Ahmadinejad, Iran’s former president. During the conversation, the rector was told that the purpose of the conference was to enable Ahmadinejad to hold secret talks with Israeli intelligence officials.

According to American and Iranian sources familiar with the details of the operation, that visit to Hungary, along with another visit in 2025, was part of a prolonged Israeli effort to cultivate Ahmadinejad as an intelligence asset. The goal was reportedly to position him as Iran’s new leader if a change of power became possible. As part of that effort, the report claimed that then Mossad chief Dedi Barnea met with Ahmadinejad in Hungary in 2024. Shortly afterward, according to the investigation, the Mossad announced that it had established contact with the former Iranian president.

The investigation also claimed that Israel secretly funded Ahmadinejad’s housing and travel expenses and that Israeli officials met with him several times outside Iran, including during his visits to Budapest.

According to the report, the effort reached its peak at the end of February this year, at the beginning of Operation “Roar of the Lion.” At that point, a bold operation was reportedly planned to extract Ahmadinejad, who was under close surveillance in Tehran. The aim was to advance a plan to topple the current regime and install the former president as Iran’s new leader, but the operation ultimately failed.

Ahmadinejad’s home was hit on February 28 during the opening strike of the operation in Iran. According to Iranian sources, a black Peugeot arrived at the scene after the explosion and quickly evacuated him. The report cited American and Iranian sources who claimed that Mossad operatives were inside the vehicle and took him to a secret safe house in Iran.

However, according to sources cited in the investigation, Ahmadinejad was shaken by the extraction operation and expressed disappointment with the Israeli plan intended to return him to power. He eventually chose to leave the safe house and had not been seen in public since then until last week, when he appeared in the funeral procession for former Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

The footage published on Tuesday, showing Ahmadinejad attending Khamenei’s memorial ceremony, marks his first public appearance since the dramatic investigation was published.