NYT: Former Iranian President Ahmadinejad Has Been Arrested

He is suspected of collaborating with the Mossad.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has arrested former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on suspicion of having long-standing ties to the Israeli intelligence service "Mossad".

The American newspaper The New York Times reported this on July 13, citing four high-ranking Iranian officials and U.S. government sources.

According to them, Ahmadinejad was taken into custody and placed under house arrest by members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC—the military wing of the Iranian Ayatollah regime).

As U.S. officials told the NYT, in recent years the Israeli authorities have secretly provided Ahmadinejad with funds for housing and travel. The Mossad viewed him as a compromise figure—in case Iran needed to be governed should the Ayatollahs’ regime fall.

In addition, Israeli agents met with Ahmadinejad several times abroad, particularly during his trips to Budapest, the NYT reports.

Moreover, in early 2024, the then-head of the Mossad, David Barnea, secretly met with him in Budapest. To facilitate this, at the request of the Israeli side, Hungarian authorities arranged an invitation for Ahmadinejad to attend a climate conference—on the sidelines of which he met with Barnea. The contacts continued in 2025—in June, he managed to slip past his security detail at least twice and disappear for lengthy meetings. In addition, meetings in Guatemala were documented, the NYT reports.

“It is unclear when Israeli agents first attempted to recruit Ahmadinejad. Iranian officials stated that at least some of the contacts took place during Ahmadinejad’s trip to Guatemala in 2023 to attend a conference on environmental issues. The invitation came from the Guatemalan government—a country that maintains closer diplomatic ties with Israel than most Latin American nations,” the newspaper reported.

According to the NYT, the situation was further complicated by the fact that Ahmadinejad’s relationship with the Iranian Ayatollah regime was “complicated.”

“The top leadership sidelined him and restricted his movements, but allowed him to take a seat alongside other high-ranking officials on a high-level council that advised the country’s then-Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei,” the publication reported.

According to the NYT, in February 2026, on the first day of U.S.-Israeli airstrikes against Iran, the Israeli Air Force struck Ahmadinejad’s residence with the aim of eliminating his security detail from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

“According to four high-ranking Iranian officials, after the strike, a black Peugeot arrived at the scene, picked up Ahmadinejad, and drove him away from the chaos at high speed,” the publication reported.

At the same time, according to informed sources cited by the NYT, Ahmadinejad was outraged by such a chaotic rescue operation—and, apparently, became disillusioned with the Israeli plan to restore him to power.

“Last Monday, he made a brief and unexpected appearance as part of Ayatollah Khamenei’s funeral procession. Video footage of the procession showed Ahmadinejad wearing a heavy jacket in 32-degree heat, with a medical mask pulled down to his chin. The two other living former Iranian presidents—Hassan Rouhani and Mohammad Khatami—were not invited and did not appear at any of the funeral ceremonies. Meanwhile, Ahmadinejad stood with his head bowed and without saying a word, surrounded by people who appeared to be security guards,” the publication concluded.

You can support the website Charter97.org

MULTI-CURRENCY ACCOUNT FOR ASSISTANCE:

Bank's name: Bank Millennium S.A.
Address: ul. Stanislawa Zaryna, 2A, 02-593, Warszawa
IBAN: PL97116022020000000216711123
SWIFT: BIGBPLPW
Name of the account holder: Fundacja “KARTA ‘97”
Purpose/title of payment: Donation for statuary aims

You can contact us by the e-mail charter97@gmail.com