Israeli intelligence spent years cultivating former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as a potential successor to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, secretly funding his travel and housing in an effort to position him to lead a post-clerical regime in Tehran. The covert effort, codenamed "Operation Puss in Boots," included a 2024 meeting in Budapest between then-Mossad chief David Barnea and Ahmadinejad, as well as secret payments to his spokesman.
Ahmadinejad vanished after an Israeli airstrike hit his Tehran residence on 28 February 2026. Mossad agents reportedly moved him to a secret safe house before he resurfaced at the funeral of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Iranian officials have since confirmed that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps intelligence service detained Ahmadinejad and placed him under house arrest, according to multiple reports.