Barnea Reportedly Met Ahmadinejad in Budapest During Mossad Cultivation Effort

A new investigation says then-Mossad chief David Barnea personally met Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Budapest in 2024 during a years-long Israeli effort to cultivate the Holocaust-denying former Iranian president as an intelligence asset and possible post-regime leader. It says Israel covered his housing and travel as contacts deepened. The investigation also says Mossad personnel moved him from a February 28 Israeli strike in a black Peugeot to a safe house inside Iran. Four senior Iranian officials say IRGC intelligence now holds Ahmadinejad under house arrest after uncovering much of his reported Israeli contact; Mossad and his spokesman declined to comment.