Washington offers a large reward for information about Khamenei
The reward targets ten officials linked to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, including Ali Larijani and two aides to Khamenei.
The United States is offering a reward of up to 10 million dollars for information about senior Iranian military and intelligence officials, including the new Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei.
The reward targets ten officials associated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, according to the U.S. State Department’s website. This military force, created after Iran’s Islamic Revolution in 1979, is loyal to the Supreme Leader and tasked with protecting the Shiite religious establishment.
Mojtaba Khamenei succeeded his father, Ali Khamenei, as Iran’s Supreme Leader after the elder Khamenei and several senior Iranian officials were killed in joint U.S.-Israeli airstrikes that began on February 28. Mojtaba, who is believed to have been injured in the strikes, has not appeared publicly since then, although he issued his first statement on Thursday.
In addition to the Supreme Leader, the United States is also seeking information about the head of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, Ali Larijani, Intelligence Minister Esmail Khatib, Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni, and two officials from Khamenei’s office.
Larijani appeared on Friday in videos verified by Reuters alongside President Masoud Pezeshkian and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi while attending demonstrations in Tehran, despite U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s assertion that Iran’s leadership was “hiding” underground.
The rewards program website also lists four additional officials, including the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the secretary of the Defense Council, but does not mention their names or publish their photographs.
The U.S. State Department said: “These individuals lead and direct various elements of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which plans, organizes, and carries out terrorist activities around the world.”
The United States has designated the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a foreign terrorist organization, accusing it of being responsible for attacks that killed American citizens. Washington also accuses Iran of plotting assassination attempts against President Donald Trump and other U.S. officials in retaliation for the killing of Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani in 2020.
The Islamic Republic denies the accusation of supporting terrorism. Iranian officials describe U.S. allegations of terrorism as baseless political attacks and say that Washington raises such claims to justify pressure campaigns or sanctions.
