‘Cartoonish’ New York Times Story Claims Israel and America Attempted To Install Ahmadinejad in Power at Tehran

Iran watchers are expressing skepticism over a “cartoonish” New York Times story positing that in a scheme to promote regime change at Tehran, Iran, Israel and America intended to install in power a former Islamic Republic president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The story, with a byline of four of the paper’s top reporters, claimed that the “audacious plan, developed by the Israelis and which Mr. Ahmadinejad had been consulted about, quickly went awry.” Sourced to unidentified American officials “who were briefed” on the plan, and to an unidentified “associate of Mr. Ahmadinejad,” the piece indicates that the plan’s failure was a result of a harebrained Mossad scheme.The Times’ piece is “too cartoonish” to be believable, the policy director at United Against Nuclear Iran, Jason Brodsky, tells the Sun. “To think that the same intelligence agencies which spearheaded Operation Grim Beeper against Hezbollah and had granular knowledge of the movements of Iranian officials thought they could parachute Ahmadinejad into Tehran as the ruler despite him being completely sidelined from power in recent years defies credulity,” he added. It’s a “childish” story, a veteran Farsi-language Israeli broadcaster who closely follows Iran’s inner workings, Menashe Amir, adds. “The Mossad knows Iran very well. They know what’s possible and what isn’t. A man under house arrest, who has been forcibly silenced for more than a year, has no chance of assuming power unless backed by the Revolutionary Guards.”President Trump is proud of his Venezuela operation that installed in power a regime insider, Delcy Rodriguez, who is compliant with Washington’s demands. “We are dealing with very good people” in Iran, he told reporters Wednesday. America reportedly dealt with a former top official of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps official, Parliament speaker Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf. Mr. Ahmadinejad, in contrast, has no ties to the IRGC, which is the real power in Iran currently. His vocal criticism of the regime’s leadership in recent years was silenced and he was also placed under house arrest. The idea that Israel or America would zero in on the former president as a possible leader who would play ball seems outlandish.Mr. Ahmadinejad’s 2005-2013 presidency was marked by holocaust-denial, including a cartoon contest to ridicule Jewish suffering in World War II, constant vows to wipe Israel off the map, and promotion of nuclear weapons. “He said that Iran’s nuclear train is rolling fast, and that no one could stop it,” according to Mr. Amir. In a 2007 press conference at the United Nations, Mr. Ahmadenijad insisted that he had no animosity toward Jews, just to Zionists. “But I’m a Zionist,” this Sun scribe told the president as he shook hands with reporters afterward. Mr. Ahmadenijad pulled his hand away as if bitten by a snake. Mr. Ahmadenijad’s detractors inside Iran grew nasty in recent years. “Conspiracy theorists claimed he is of Jewish descent, that his real Jewish name is Savorai, and that his mission is to ruin Islam,” Mr. Amir says.Back in March the Atlantic’s Graeme Wood published a similar story to the Times’ Wednesday piece. He too sourced the piece to an Ahmadinejad confidante. In recent years Mr. Ahmadinejad indeed “was reaching out to foreign governments,” a Washington source tells the Sun.The Times noted that a few years ago Mr. Ahamadinejad travelled to Guatemala and met with the then-Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orban, who is an ally of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. After killing Supreme Leader Ali Khamanei on February 28, the Times claims, Israeli jets struck Mr. Ahmadinejad’s residence, targeting his IRGC guards. The attack, according to the report, injured the former president who has not been heard from since that time. Many at Washington, including inside the White House, increasingly portray the Iran war as a colossal failure, and some blame Israel and Mr. Netanyahu for the fiasco. The Israeli premier is a “good man,” Mr. Trump told reporters after a lengthy phone call with Mr. Netanyahu on Wednesday. “He’ll do whatever I want him to do.”According to the Times, though, honing in on Mr. Ahmadinejad was an Israeli idea sold to Mr. Trump. To say it was “an unusual choice would be a vast understatement,” the newspaper writes.Yet critics maintain that the choice to portray Israel and Mr. Trump as clueless war leaders is typical of the Times’ war coverage. “It feeds into the narrative that the U.S. and Israel misunderstand Iran, and that this is a boondoggle — and it’s also being used to undermine the Iranian opposition,” Mr. Brodsky says.

‘Cartoonish’ New York Times Story Claims Israel and America Attempted To Install Ahmadinejad in Power at Tehran

More from the New York Sun

‘Top Gun’ at 40: The Real Story Behind the Blockbuster That Sealed Tom Cruise’s Stardom

Justice Alito’s Duty To Sit

Progressive Candidates in Colorado Call for Democratic Governor’s Impeachment

More from the New York Sun

‘Top Gun’ at 40: The Real Story Behind the Blockbuster That Sealed Tom Cruise’s Stardom

Justice Alito’s Duty To Sit

Progressive Candidates in Colorado Call for Democratic Governor’s Impeachment

Women’s Sports Podcasts Are Fueling the Next Media Gold Rush

Trump Drops IRS Lawsuit as DOJ Creates $1.776 Billion ‘Anti-Weaponization Fund’

New York Times Reporters ‘Exasperated’ by Column Claiming Israeli Abuse of Palestinian Prisoners, ‘Suspicious’ of Sourcing

Israel Reportedly Jams Gaza Flotilla’s Radio With Britney Spears Hit

Judge Throws Out Some, Permits Some of Evidence Collection in Mangione Trial