NYT: Israeli-developed plan sought to have Ahmadinejad run Iran after Khamenei killed |
An Israeli-developed plan called for installing Iran’s Holocaust-denying former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as the country’s new leader, after the killing of Ali Khamenei and other top Iranian officials at the end of February, The New York Times reported on Wednesday.
Having Ahmadinejad take power was one of the stages in Israel’s envisioned multiphase plan for the war, the report said, citing US officials briefed on the plan.
The plan’s first phase was the US-Israeli aerial campaign that killed top Iranian officials including supreme leader Khamenei, together with an intended mobilization of Kurdish forces, though the latter never materialized.
Israel believed that the invasion and strikes would destabilize the regime, with political pressure and damage to key infrastructure causing it to collapse. Then, an “alternative government” would be able to take charge, the report said. The Mossad spy agency declined to comment.
The Times said a reported strike on Ahmedinejad’s residence during the war’s opening salvo – originally assumed to target the ex-leader himself – was in fact directed at the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps officers enforcing his regime-imposed house arrest.
Ahmadinejad was consulted about the plan, according to the Times, though the manner of his recruitment remains unknown.
The attack succeeded in freeing the ex-president, but it wounded him in the process, after which he reportedly became disillusioned with the scheme. He has not been seen since, and his whereabouts are........