In what has to be the most jaw-dropping geopolitical plot twist since, well, ever, the United States and Israel allegedly considered Mahmoud Ahmadinejad - yes, THAT Ahmadinejad - as their preferred candidate to lead Iran, according to a report by The Guardian published on May 20, 2026.
Let that sink in for a second. The former Iranian president who spent much of his tenure questioning the Holocaust, calling for Israel to be wiped off the map, and generally being the West's least favourite person on the world stage was apparently seen as the lesser evil by Washington and Tel Aviv. Geopolitics, everybody.
From enemy number one to unlikely ally?
The alleged scheme reportedly hinged on Ahmadinejad's very public and very messy falling-out with Iran's ruling clerical establishment. According to The Guardian, his break from the Tehran regime is said to have made him an attractive figure for a potential power transition - the kind of transition that, if the claims are accurate, the US and Israel were hoping to engineer.
It's worth stressing that this is based on claims reported by The Guardian, not independently confirmed geopolitical fact. The piece leans on intelligence and diplomatic sources, and the full scope of any alleged "takeover plot" remains murky at best.
The Trump connection nobody asked for
In a delicious bit of political irony that practically writes itself, The Guardian notes that Ahmadinejad and Donald Trump have always shared some oddly familiar qualities. A visit to the former president's modest Tehran neighbourhood almost two decades ago reportedly exposed cost-of-living frustrations strikingly similar to the economic anxieties that have fuelled Trump's own political brand. Two populists, two very different flags, one eerily similar playbook.
Why this matters
If the claims hold any water, this story tells us something important about how desperate geopolitical calculations can get. When your options are limited enough, yesterday's sworn enemy starts looking like tomorrow's business partner. It also underscores just how isolated Ahmadinejad has become within Iran's power structure - a man once powerful enough to embarrass the Supreme Leader is now apparently more useful to his former adversaries than to his own establishment.
Whether this alleged plot ever got beyond the "wouldn't it be wild if..." stage of a CIA brainstorming session remains unclear. But as a window into the strange, morally flexible world of great power politics, it's hard to beat.
Source: The Guardian, May 20, 2026.
