Former Iranian President Ahmadinejad appears at memorial ceremony for Khamenei, rejects Israeli recruitment claims

Former Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad appeared in public on Tuesday at a memorial ceremony held for former Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei at the Imam Khomeini Mosalla Mosque in Tehran, marking his first public appearance since the US-Israeli war on Iran.

The appearance comes days after The New York Times published a report alleging that Israel’s Mossad had spent years trying to recruit Ahmadinejad and that he is currently under house arrest.

Ahmadinejad’s office rejected the report soon after it surfaced, calling the allegations “completely false” and accusing the newspaper of fabricating claims to mislead public opinion and stir divisions inside Iran.

“We categorically reject all the completely false allegations promoted by The New York Times,” the statement read.

The Times report, published Monday, claimed that Mossad had viewed Ahmadinejad as a potential candidate to lead Iran and had worked for years to convince him to cooperate with Israel.

Citing American officials, the paper reported that Israel secretly covered his housing and travel costs and that Israeli operatives met him abroad on several occasions, including trips to Budapest. It further alleged that the effort reached a critical point in late February, around the start of the conflict between the US, Israel and Iran, when Israeli intelligence attempted to move him out of Tehran as part of a broader plan to topple Iran’s government and install him in its place.

According to the report, an Israeli airstrike hit Ahmadinejad’s compound on February 28, damaging a building used by his bodyguards along with his armored vehicle. Four senior Iranian officials told the paper that a black Peugeot arrived shortly after the strike, picked him up and took him to a secret safe house inside Iran. Citing both American and Iranian officials familiar with the operation, the Times alleged the vehicle was driven by Mossad operatives.

Ahmadinejad’s office also denied that he is being held under house arrest, calling it fabricated detail meant to support what it described as the newspaper’s “absurd” claims. The report has been tied to a wider Israeli push for regime change in Iran following its initial strikes on senior Iranian leadership.

Ahmadinejad served as Iran’s president from 2005 to 2013.