Ahmadinejad under house arrest after alleged Israel contacts: NYT

TEHRAN, Iran — Former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has been placed under house arrest by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps intelligence unit, The New York Times reported, citing US and Iranian sources. According to the report, Iranian authorities determined that Ahmadinejad had established communication with Israeli interlocutors and imposed the restrictions after that finding. The newspaper said Israel had sought since 2024 to build a secret back channel to Ahmadinejad, arguing that his standing inside the Iranian system had weakened and that the line could feed into a broader effort aimed at regime change in Tehran. A conference held in Budapest was used as cover for informal talks with Israeli officials, including former Mossad chief David Barnea, the report said. Israel financed part of Ahmadinejad's travel and accommodation and had sought to add support for Iranian Kurdish groups to the arrangement, but those tracks were not carried out, according to the Times. The newspaper added that Ahmadinejad, who served as president from 2005 to 2013, had drawn the attention of Iranian security services over his recent political messaging and had avoided public events, appearing only at the funeral of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.