According to reporting by the New York Times and Israeli newspaper Haaretz, Israeli intelligence officials undertook an effort beginning in 2022 to recruit Iran’s former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as a potential leader of a future Iranian government following the Islamic Republic. The initiative reportedly intensified after Ahmadinejad delivered a speech at a Hungarian university, the same venue where Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had spoken approximately two months earlier in 2025. David Barnea, then-head of the Mossad, traveled to Budapest to meet with Ahmadinejad, an encounter significant enough that Barnea reportedly skipped a security consultation with Netanyahu regarding the conflict in Gaza.
Israeli officials allegedly provided financial support for Ahmadinejad’s housing and travel expenses, with Mossad operatives meeting him on multiple occasions during visits to Hungary, where far-right Prime Minister Viktor Orbán maintained close relationships with both Israel and the United States. Following Ahmadinejad’s visit to Guatemala in 2023, the Mossad informed the CIA of its contact with the former Iranian leader. The recruitment initiative, internally referred to by Israel as Operation Puss in Boots, reportedly faced internal disagreement, with some Israeli officials characterizing the plans as unrealistic. Israel’s defense establishment chief of staff attempted to halt the operation three days before its scheduled launch, though Prime Minister Netanyahu overrode these objections.
Ahmadinejad’s appeal to Israeli officials stemmed from his estrangement from Iran’s leadership following his departure from office in 2013. Repeatedly blocked from running for president by Iran’s Guardian Council and increasingly critical of the regime’s brutal suppression of protests, Ahmadinejad had worked to rehabilitate his international image by improving his English language skills and moderating his previously extreme positions. His relationship with Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei had deteriorated significantly.
After the United States and Israel launched military strikes against Iran on 28 February that resulted in Khamenei’s death, Ahmadinejad made a public appearance at the supreme leader’s funeral. According to the New York Times, Mossad agents extracted him from his residence and housed him at a Tehran safe house. However, Ahmadinejad reportedly became dissatisfied with the extraction and the overall plan, subsequently departing the safe house under unclear circumstances. Iranian officials now believe he is in the custody of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps intelligence division.