Mr. Ahmadinejad makes the claim during an interview with CNN’s Turkish affiliate.

After weeks of daring Israeli attacks on Iranian proxies in Lebanon and Gaza — and even in Iran itself — comments made recently by the former president of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, to the effect that Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency managed to infiltrate even the top echelons of Iran’s intelligence services are drawing increased scrutiny.

According to a report in the Times of Israel, Mr. Ahmadinejad says an intelligence group tasked primarily with spying on Israel was all-but taken over by Mossad, which managed to recruit the head of the Iranian group — as well as most of his lieutenants — as a double agent. The goal of the Mossad operation, according to Mr. Ahmadinejad, was to steal information about Iran’s nuclear program.