The New York Times, citing U.S. officials and sources close to the matter, reported that Israel and the United States had designed a multi-stage scenario for regime change during the war with the Islamic Republic. In this plan, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s name was put forward as one of the potential candidates to lead the country in the post-Ali Khamenei era.
According to the report, certain factions within the Israeli security establishment believed that, despite Ahmadinejad’s hardline track record and his rifts with the ruling establishment in recent years, he could be utilized within a power vacuum as a figure possessing a populist base. However, a number of Donald Trump’s advisors characterized the idea as “unrealistic” and expressed skepticism regarding the feasibility of his return to power.=
The New York Times further noted that, on the very first day of the strikes, Ahmadinejad’s house in Tehran was targeted in an attack that, according to U.S. sources, was carried out with the intent of extracting him from what has been described as “house arrest.” The report claims that Ahmadinejad was wounded in the strike, after which he became hesitant and developed doubts regarding the regime change project.
