US Puts $10 Million Bounty on Iran’s New Supreme Leader
The United States has placed a bounty of up to $10 million on several high-ranking figures linked to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), including the country’s new Supreme Leader, as part of an intensified effort to disrupt what Washington describes as Tehran’s global terrorism network.
Through its Rewards for Justice program, the U.S. Department of State is seeking actionable intelligence on key leaders who command and oversee elements of the IRGC and its affiliated branches. According to the announcement, these individuals direct an organization that the U.S. government accuses of planning, coordinating, and carrying out terrorist activities worldwide. The IRGC, an integral part of Iran’s armed forces since its establishment in 1979, has expanded its influence to shape foreign policy, control significant portions of the national economy, and exert power in domestic politics.
U.S. officials maintain that the IRGC has established, backed, and guided various terrorist entities, while orchestrating attacks that have resulted in the deaths of American citizens and targeted U.S. interests abroad. The State Department highlighted the group’s role in employing terrorism as a core instrument of Iranian state policy.
This latest reward builds on prior designations: In 2017, the U.S. Treasury labeled the IRGC a Specially Designated Global Terrorist under Executive Order 13224 for its support of the IRGC-Qods Force. Then, on April 15, 2019, the State Department classified the entire IRGC, including the Qods Force, as a Foreign Terrorist Organization—the first time such a measure was applied to an official component of another nation’s military. These actions impose asset freezes on IRGC-linked property under U.S. jurisdiction and prohibit American persons or entities from conducting transactions with the group. Providing material support to the IRGC constitutes a federal crime.
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The reward specifically targets information leading to the identification or location of figures such as Mojtaba Khamenei (Supreme Leader), Ali Asghar Hejazi (Deputy Chief of Staff in the Supreme Leader’s Office), Maj. Gen. Yahya Rahim Safavi, Ali Larijani, Brig. Gen. Eskandar Momeni (Interior Minister), Esmail Khatib (Intelligence Minister), and others in roles tied to the Supreme Leader’s Office, the Supreme National Security Council, and various ministries.
The U.S. continues to urge anyone with relevant details to come forward, emphasizing the program’s aim to counter the IRGC’s alleged terrorist operations.