U.S. and Israel sought to reinstall Ahmadinejad in Iran plan

In the early stages of the recent conflict with Iran, the United States and Israel pursued a covert regime-change strategy that centered on reinstating former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, according to officials familiar with the matter. The plan, which reportedly involved Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency, unraveled shortly after it began when an Israeli airstrike intended to free Ahmadinejad from house arrest in Tehran nearly killed him instead.

The strategy emerged following Israeli strikes that killed Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei at the outset of the war. U.S. President Donald Trump subsequently suggested publicly that it would be preferable for Iran’s next leader to emerge from within the country. Officials said the plan sought to place Ahmadinejad, Iran’s president from 2005 to 2013, at the helm of a new government despite his long history of anti-American and anti-Israel rhetoric, including past calls to wipe Israel off the map.

A key element of the effort was an Israeli strike on Ahmadinejad’s residence in Tehran on the first day of the conflict. U.S. officials and an associate of the former president described the operation as an attempt to eliminate...