Washington is offering a reward of up to $10 million for information concerning senior Iranian military and intelligence officials linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The initiative is being conducted through the US State Department’s Rewards for Justice programme and targets ten individuals. Among those identified are Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, security chief Ali Larijani, Intelligence Minister Esmail Khatib and Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni, together with officials from the supreme leader’s office and senior figures associated with the Revolutionary Guards. US authorities say they are seeking information that could help establish the location and activities of individuals Washington believes command or direct elements of the IRGC. The United States designates the organisation as a foreign terrorist organisation and accuses it of planning and conducting operations outside Iran. Tehran rejects those allegations and has repeatedly described American accusations of state-sponsored terrorism as politically motivated.
The initiative comes amid an exceptionally intense confrontation between Washington and Tehran. The United States has accused Iran and structures associated with the Revolutionary Guards of organising plots targeting American citizens and current and former US officials, including Donald Trump. The killing of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani in a US strike in Baghdad in 2020 remains a particularly sensitive issue, with Iranian officials repeatedly promising accountability for those involved in the operation. Washington, meanwhile, has expanded sanctions, investigations and financial rewards for information concerning alleged Iranian operations. An important distinction must be made, however: the offer of up to $10 million is not a bounty for killing the individuals concerned. Rewards for Justice is an information-gathering programme through which US authorities seek intelligence they consider useful for counterterrorism efforts and for identifying the location or activities of wanted individuals. The latest move should therefore be understood primarily as another instrument of intelligence and political pressure on Iran’s leadership at a time when relations between the two countries remain exceptionally tense.
