Netanyahu and Trump’s Plan for Iran: How They Tried to Change the Regime!

The New York Times, citing U.S. officials, revealed that the first Israeli strike during the war on Iran targeted the home of former Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, as part of a broader plan aimed at bringing about regime change and returning him to the political scene.

According to the newspaper, the raid on Ahmadinejad’s home on the first day of the war was intended to free him from the house arrest imposed on him in Tehran, as part of a multi-stage plan devised by the United States and Israel to topple the Iranian regime.

The newspaper noted that U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu entered the war betting on the possibility of installing a figure from within the Iranian regime to assume power after the killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and a number of senior officials in the initial strikes.

It added that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s name was raised in U.S.-Israeli discussions as a figure capable of managing the political, social, and military situation inside Iran, despite his well-known history of hardline positions and hostility toward the United States and Israel.

Ahmadinejad disappeared after the raid

According to U.S. officials and a source close to Ahmadinejad, the former Iranian president survived the strike on his home, but lost confidence in the regime-change plan after the attack.

The newspaper explained that Ahmadinejad has not appeared publicly since then, while his whereabouts and condition remain unknown.

It also revealed that initial reports had spoken of his death during the strike, before The Atlantic later confirmed that he had been released after the attack in what was described as an operation resembling a prison escape.

The New York Times noted that a number of U.S. officials expressed doubts about the feasibility of returning Ahmadinejad to power, considering the plan risky and unworkable.

It added that U.S. officials discussed with Israel during the early days of the war the possibility of backing a pragmatic figure to lead Iran, based on intelligence indicating that some elements within the regime were prepared to cooperate with Washington.

In recent years, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had repeatedly clashed with the leadership of the Iranian regime and accused senior officials of corruption, before being barred from several presidential elections and subjected to severe restrictions on his movements that ultimately ended with his placement under house arrest at his home in the Narmak district of eastern Tehran.