The office of former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad issued a statement Tuesday morning rejecting a New York Times report as a 'completely false fabrication,' denying claims that he is under house arrest and that Mossad cultivated him as a post-regime leader.
The office of former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad issued a categorical denial this morning (Tuesday, July 14), rejecting the New York Times report published Monday as a 'completely false fabrication' and an act of 'psychological warfare' against the Iranian people. The statement directly refutes the report's core claims that Mossad cultivated Ahmadinejad as a post-regime leader and that he is under house arrest by the IRGC's intelligence wing. No evidence was provided to support the denial.
Monday's New York Times report, published at 13:43 Jerusalem, alleged that Mossad ran a years-long operation to groom Ahmadinejad, including secret meetings with then-Mossad chief Dedi Barnea in Budapest in 2024 and a failed extraction attempt on the first day of Operation Roaring Lion. The report, citing unnamed intelligence officials, also claimed that Ahmadinejad is currently under house arrest—a detail first reported by Haaretz and later corroborated in subsequent NYT versions citing four Iranian officials. The thread shows that the story escalated from Haaretz's initial disclosure of Barnea's personal involvement to the NYT's detailed account of meetings, funding, and the failed rescue.
The Zioneer has previously noted the New York Times' role in breaking sensitive diplomatic stories; on July 3, the Prime Minister's Office dismissed a separate NYT report as a 'complete fabrication of reality.' Iranian officials have routinely rejected Western media reports as psychological warfare, though the Ahmadinejad office's statement marks the first direct response from the former president's camp.
The truth of the NYT report's central allegations remains unverified, and the Ahmadinejad office's denial is similarly unsubstantiated. Neither the Iranian government nor Mossad has commented on the matter. The report's sourcing remains anonymous, and the denial provides no counter-evidence, leaving the core question unresolved.
6 developments
- DevelopingPMO dismisses New York Times report as 'complete fabrication of reality'
- StrongMossad attempted to recruit former Iranian president Ahmadinejad, Channel 14 reports
- DevelopingReport: Mossad agents extracted Ahmadinejad after Israeli strike on his compound on Feb. 28
- DevelopingIran state media calls Trump outreach claim 'complete lie' as Tehran pledges military response
Source and signal
- Internal intake