An Israeli strike designed to free Mahmoud Ahmadinejad from house arrest in Tehran, U.S. officials said, was part of an effort to bring about regime change and put him in power.

Many who remembered Ahmadinejad's term in office from 2005 to 2013 recall him as a Holocaust denier, an atom-bomb fanatic, and someone who shoved Islamic revolutionary ideology down the throats of a country already weary of it.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s home was struck on the first day, with early rumours suggesting the leader who was Iran’s President from 2005 to 2013 had been killed.

U.S. and Israeli officials reportedly discussed installing former Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as Iran’s leader after the war, despite his long history of anti-American and anti-Israel rhetoric.

Citing US officials, The New York Times reports that the plan was to make hardliner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad president after air strikes killed then-Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

Citing US officials, The New York Times reports plan was to make Mahmoud Ahmadinejad president after airstrikes killed then-Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei | Anadolu

An Israeli-developed plan called for installing Holocaust-denying former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as Iran’s new leader after the killing of supreme leader Ali Khamenei and other top Iranian officials at the start of the US-Israel war against the Islamic Republic,

At the beginning of the war, the United States and Israel reportedly wanted to instal former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as the new Iranian leader. But Ahmadinejad eventually grew disillusioned and the plan failed.

According to The New York Times, Israeli planners had a specific figure in mind: Ahmadinejad, the hardline former president known globally for his anti-Israel rhetoric, criticism of the United States and support for Iran’s nuclear programme.

US officials believed Ahmadinejad might be capable of managing Iran’s unstable political environment in the event of regime collapse

Despite his hardline rhetoric in the past, the former Iranian president had reportedly been chosen by Israel and the US as the “pragmatist” who could take over the country