NYT: Early Iran war plan sought to free Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

newsMay 19, 2026201,034

The New York Times reports that early in the U.S.-Israel war on Iran planners proposed an Israeli strike to free former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad from house arrest in Tehran and install him as Iran's leader. The plan was part of a coordinated U.S. and Israeli regime-change strategy aimed at quickly replacing Iran's leadership at the outset of the conflict. Installing Ahmadinejad, who pushed Iran's nuclear program and denied the Holocaust, would have risked escalating the war, galvanizing Iranian resistance, and complicating regional stabilization efforts.

Mehdi Hasan

@mehdirhasan.bsky.social

The US-Israeli plan for regime change in Iran at the start of this war was apparently to replace Khamenei with… Mahmoud Ahmadinejad! The most insane-sounding story you will read today:

36360d ago

darkangelcryo.bsky.social9

“The most insane-sounding story you will read today:” Don’t tempt fate @mehdirhasan.bsky.social , it can ALWAYS get dumber with trump.

Emily7

It's like assassinating Hitler so you can hand power to Himmler or Bormann.

Andrew Robbins5

tbh thats less insane than the very next line "Via a strike designed to free him from house arrest"

Ken4

Bringing back the 80s. 😂

Revolutionary_Jack 🕷🕸!3

The choice was based on the fact that Trump knew him by name because he clowned on TV in the 2000s.

DJ2

Always a crowded field for most insane story of the day.

bobby

@bobbylewis.bsky.social

liz lemon! they’ve uncovered my plot to install mahmoud ahmadinejad as the supreme leader of iran! no i do not know what an ayatollah is!

16660d ago

The New York Times

@nytimes.com

The secret plan at the outset of the U.S.-Israel war on Iran: Free Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and put him in power.

12760d ago

Loren Ipsum17

Just the dumbest fucking plan. The US and Israel launched an air strike on Ahmadinejad’s house in order to kill his jailers, allowing him to break free and take over the country. But they injured Ahmadinejad in the process, and he decided he didn’t want anything to do with them anymore.

Tyler King

@tyleraking.com

“An Israeli strike designed to free Mahmoud Ahmadinejad from house arrest in Tehran, U.S. officials said, was part of an effort to bring about regime change and put him in power.” Excuse me?

9360d ago

Tyler King42

Apparently the whole thing fell apart when they bombed their guy.

darkglade.bsky.social2

The only thing I can think is that they wanted to get a super hard liner in there to make things bad enough that the rest of the world would be willing to intercede? Can't for the life of me think of any other reason that Israel would want somebody who's literally called to wipe Israel off the map.

Max Boot

@maxboot.bsky.social

If Israel and the US were really trying to bring to power hardliner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad—an advocate of Iran’s nuclear program—then the war plan is even dumber than it looked. www.nytimes.com/2026/05/19/u...

6960d ago

Ben Ross2

The best reason to believe this story is true is that the plan is so dumb that nobody would have dared to make it up.

James Downie

@jamescdownie.bsky.social

Early in the Iran War, "President Trump mused publicly that it would be best if 'someone from within' Iran took over the country. It turns out that the United States and Israel went into the conflict with a particular and very surprising someone in mind: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad." (Gift link)

3060d ago

Michael Caley

@michaelcaley.bsky.social

note the article is very clear this whole fuckin fever dream of a James Jesus Angleton operation was designed and run by Mossad and the US signed off on it late

Days after Israeli strikes killed Iran’s supreme leader and other top officials in the opening salvos of the war, President Trump mused publicly that it would be best if “someone from within” Iran took over the country.

It turns out that the United States and Israel went into the conflict with a particular and very surprising someone in mind: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the former Iranian president known for his hard-line, anti-Israel and anti-American views.

But the audacious plan, developed by the Israelis and which Mr. Ahmadinejad had been consulted about, quickly went awry, according to the U.S. officials who were briefed on it.

Mr. Ahmadinejad was injured on the war’s first day by an Israeli strike at his home in Tehran that had been designed to free him from house arrest, the American officials and an associate of Mr. Ahmadinejad said. He survived the strike, they said, but after the near miss he became disillusioned with the regime change plan.

5060d ago

Michael Caley99

Burn After Reading ass op

B. A. Friedman

@bafriedman.bsky.social

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad walking out of his bombed out house for his face turn.

4360d ago

Sarah Szalavitz💡

@dearsarah.bsky.social

Early War Goal Was to Install Hard Line Former President as Iran’s Leader US says Israeli strike designed to free Mahmoud Ahmadinejad from house arrest in Tehran was part of an effort to put him back in power. www.nytimes.com/2026/05/19/u... so, if only Israel hadn’t injured him? WTF?🫠😖 #loligarchy

Days atter Israeli strikes killed Iran's supreme leader and other top officials in the opening salvos of the war, President Trump mused publicly that it would be best if "someone from within" Iran took over the country.
It turns out that the United States and Israel went into the conflict with a particular and very surprising someone in mind: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the former Iranian president known for his hard-line, anti-Israel and anti-American views.
But the audacious plan, developed by the Israelis and which Mr.
Ahmadinejad had been consulted about, quickly went awry, according to the U.S. officials who were briefed on it.
Mr. Ahmadinejad was injured on the war's first day by an Israeli strike at his home in Tehran that had been designed to free him from house arrest, the American officials and an associate of Mr.
Ahmadinejad said. He survived the strike, they said, but after the near miss he became disillusioned with the regime change plan.

1460d ago

Andrew Facini

@andrewfacini.com

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad I'm sorry but your Institute of Politics appointment will again be delayed due to circumstances outside University control

2360d ago

Tahar 🇺🇦 🇵🇸 🇺🇳 🇪🇺

@rochaa.bsky.social

This is so so stupid that I just don’t believe it. Can you have this many morons all hallucinating on psychedelics at the same time? “It turns out that the US & Israel went into the conflict with a particular & very surprising someone in mind: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the former Iranian president”

860d ago

Woke Zero (Original Recipe)

@csilverandgold.bsky.social

I was at Columbia when Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was invited to speak. There was strong opposition from multiple locations on the political spectrum but the Republicans were not fans. They called us loony leftists for letting the man talk on campus AND NOW THEY GAMBLED THE ECONOMY ON PUTTING HIM IN POWER.

1260d ago

TofuNYC🗽🇺🇦 🇬🇱🚫👑🖕🧊

@groguspeak.bsky.social

What are the odds Trump has no clue who Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is?

860d ago

A Witz3

Ahmadinejad praised Trump once in 2019. Trump probably only knows that one sentence and has determined he’s worthy to be installed as head of Iran because of it.

pcrritesgood.bsky.social2

I bet he just knows Ahmadinejad posted a lot of stuff on social media so that is why he thought he would be a good choice.

BAH

@bahagberg.bsky.social

You're telling me the ISRAELI PLAN was to put MAHMOUD AHMADINEJAD back in power????

860d ago

Mark Mazzetti

@markmazzetti.bsky.social

NEW: The regime change plan at the beginning of the Iran War called for installing Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran’s former hard line presidnet known for accelerating the nuclear program and denying the Holocaust, as the country’s new leader. www.nytimes.com/2026/05/19/u...

360d ago

1 source

nytimes.comEarly War Goal Was to Install Hard Line Former President as Iran’s Leader

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NYT: Early Iran war plan sought to free Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

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