Former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad survived an assassination attempt after regime insiders were involved in sabotaging his vehicle, according to a report by "Iran International," affiliated with Iranian exiles.

According to the report, sourced from within the regime, the former president's vehicle lost control after sabotage that likely included remote control of the vehicle. The vehicle crashed into several guardrails, overturned, and all its passengers were injured.

However, the president was removed from the vehicle a few hours before the incident and transferred to a security force vehicle accompanying him, after the vehicle's air conditioner broke down. The news site claimed that the vehicle was handed over to the presidential security unit for repairs, but instead of being taken to the unit's usual garage, it was taken to an unknown location.

The news site blames the Irainian regime and the Revolutionary Guards for the alleged assassination attempt, noting that Ahmadinejad was disqualified from running in the last presidential elections in the country. The former president has expressed criticism of the regime in recent years and has clashed with several senior officials in the government.

Despite his extreme positions against Israel and the United States and his combative stance against the West, Ahmadinejad has always been considered an outsider to the regime's inner circle and not a true insider of the Islamic Revolution.

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Former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad officially entered Sunday the race for the upcoming presidential elections in Iran, announcing his candidacy in a bid to return to the office he held from 2005 to 2013.

Ahmadinejad, whose previous tenure was marred by political turmoil and the mass protests of 2009, has spent years harshly criticizing the Iranian regime since leaving office. He has promoted populist positions often at odds with the country's religious establishment and leadership.

A notorious Holocaust denier, Ahmadinejad said in his farewell ceremony in July 2023 that publicizing his Holocaust denial was a major achievement of his presidency.

The controversial ex-president's comeback attempt must still be approved by the Guardian Council, the powerful vetting body controlled by allies of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

محمود احمدی‌نژاد در پاسخ به سوالی مبنی بر اینکه «چقدر احتمال می‌دهید تایید صلاحیت شوید»، گفت: «هنوز کنفرانس خبری شروع نشده»! pic.twitter.com/B30vJoRH9M

— شرق (@SharghDaily) June 2, 2024

Also running for the presidency is Zohreh Elahian, a conservative lawmaker who declared her own candidacy on Saturday. If permitted on the ballot, Elahian would become the first woman ever to run for Iran's highest elected office, an unprecedented move in the Islamic republic where such positions have been reserved for men.

As Iranian politics is driven by backroom alliances between factions, the jockeying has already begun over who will emerge as the favored candidate, according to Iran expert Dr. Ori Goldberg.

"You have to follow who is forming coalitions with whom," Goldberg told Israel Hayom last month after the death of Ebrahim Raisi when it was clear Iran would soon hold presidential elections. "Perhaps there will be attempts to promote a specific person as a frontman while the real powerbroker stays behind the scenes."

Goldberg suggested the death of Raisi, who held key roles under Khamenei, has created a "test of resilience" as factions align and Khamenei potentially looks to remake his inner circle, whether by elevating a new technocrat or making an overture to the public.

"No one will act now without listening to the public," Goldberg said.

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The Israeli Mossad has infiltrated various echelons of Iran's leadership and many senior officials in the Islamic republic are part of the plot, former Iranian intelligence minister Ali Younesi said on Tuesday.

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"The leaders of the country don't show any interest in what's best for the public and their lives, and the Mossad has succeeded, with enticements of influence and money, to penetrate the regime's security bodies," Younesi said in an interview with the reformist Jamaran news website.

"Now the regime is busy persecuting people who are loyal to the country, particularly from the reformist camp, instead of detecting and detaining the infiltrators working on behalf of Israel. The regime established many intelligence agencies with overlapping tasks, for the purpose of weakening the intelligence ministry," he said.

Younesi served under former reformist president Mohammad Khatami from December 2000 to August 2005.

"Spy agencies can easily penetrate radical groups and organizations, because in these groups only radicalism matters," Younesi continued. "Spy agencies pick the right radicals from among their own ranks or elsewhere and have them infiltrate other intelligence agencies. The more radical they are, the quicker they get promoted and reach the top echelon of the intelligence agencies."

Claiming all Israeli infiltration took place after he left the intelligence ministry in 2005, Younesi suggested Iran should remove sycophants and radicals who were the most likely to be lured by foreign intelligence agencies.

Younesi's criticism echoed recent remarks by former Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who claimed some two weeks ago that Israeli agents had infiltrated his country's counterintelligence services, particularly the department tasked with foiling Israeli espionage.

Ahmadinejad even alleged that officials within Iran's intelligence agencies sought to cover the tracks of the assassins of Iranian nuclear scientists, including the head of the Islamic Republic's nuclear program, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh.

The former Iranian president, who had recently been disqualified from running for re-election in Iran's presidential election, which resulted in victory for hard-liner Ebrahim Raisi, alleged that "a massive Israeli operation used a corrupt gang of security personnel in the upper echelons of the national intelligence apparatus."

The accusations were unprecedented in their severity from such a prominent Iranian figure.

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Former Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad claimed on Saturday that Israeli agents have infiltrated his country's counterintelligence services, particularly the department tasked with foiling Israeli espionage. Ahmadinejad even alleged that officials within Iran's intelligence agencies sought to cover the tracks of the assassins of Iranian nuclear scientists, including the head of the Islamic republic's nuclear program, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh.

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Speaking to a local media outlet, the former Iranian president, who was recently disqualified from running for re-election in Iran's upcoming presidential election on Friday, alleged that "a massive Israeli operation used a corrupt gang of security personnel in the upper echelons of the national intelligence apparatus."

The head of this "gang," Ahmadinejad said, was the head of the Israel department in the Iranian intelligence service, although he did not reveal the individual's name or the years in which he served in that capacity.

"This corrupt gang needs to reveal its crimes and answer for its part in the assassination of our nuclear scientists and the explosions at the Natanz nuclear facility," Ahmadinejad continued. "They stole important documents from the Turquzabad district near the capital Tehran, and from our intelligence [services]," he said, referring to what Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called a "secret atomic warehouse" showing traces of uranium.

The accusations were unprecedented in their severity from such a prominent Iranian figure.

"They [the alleged collaborators] perpetrated a very significant act in Turquzabad. They handed over several vehicles filled with documents to Israel. We're not talking about one piece of paper. There were several cars there full of documents. How did they manage to get through all the roadblocks in the country?" the former president asked.

"This corrupt gang in [our own] intelligence agencies concealed this information from the public. We discovered the operation only after our enemies chose to reveal its existence to the world," Ahmadinejad said, referring to Netanyahu's public address.

"The corrupt gang even hid the information from our intelligence minister and fed him lies and disinformation. They even told him that common thieves entered the building and has been arrested," Ahmadinejad added.

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Former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is the Iranian people's top pick for the role of the country's president, a new poll by the Iran Wire news site has found.

At 37%, over one-third of respondents aged 18 and over said they wanted to see Ahmadinejad return to the presidency, compared to the 10% who named conservative politician Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf as their first choice for the job.

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The poll's findings reflect the Iranian public's disillusion with the reformist movement, whose supporters have largely given up hope they will be able to replace the ayatollah regime through elections and no longer vote. Although turnout was particularly, the conservatives won parliamentary elections held in February with a large majority.

Around 48% of the 1,000 people surveyed said they were unhappy with current Iranian President Hassan Rouhani's performance, and 16% said they were very unhappy.  Considered something of a compromise pick by the reformist camp, Rouhani has been criticized by both camps for his handling of the country's economic situation.

Elected in 2009, Ahmadinejad is considered the country's most radical president to date. Known for his frequent threats against Israel and anti-Semitic rhetoric, the former president managed to anger progressive US circles when, at an event at Columbia University, he claimed there were no gay people in Iran.

Nevertheless, Ahmadinejad is seen as a humble politician who supports the lower classes in Iranian society and fights corruption.

Iran is set to go to elections in June, and it is not yet clear who will be allowed to run for office. In 2017, Ahmadinejad's candidacy was disqualified by the country's election council, which is subject to the will of Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

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