U.S. posts $10 million bounty for information on Iran’s top leadership

Washington– The United States is offering a reward of up to $10 million for information on senior Iranian military and intelligence officials, including Iran’s new supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei, according to a notice posted on the U.S. State Department’s rewards website.

The offer targets 10 officials associated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), a powerful military force created after the Iranian Revolution and tasked with safeguarding Iran’s clerical political system. The State Department said the individuals command or direct elements of the IRGC that it accuses of planning and executing attacks abroad.

Mojtaba Khamenei assumed Iran’s highest political and religious office after his father, Ali Khamenei, was killed along with several senior Iranian officials in joint U.S. and Israeli strikes that began on Feb. 28.

The younger Khamenei is believed to have been wounded in the attacks and has not appeared publicly since the start of the conflict, though he issued his first statement on Thursday.

In addition to the supreme leader, the reward notice seeks information about Iran’s national security chief Ali Larijani, Intelligence Minister Esmail Khatib, Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni and two officials from Khamenei’s office.

Larijani appeared on Friday in video footage verified by Reuters alongside Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi during a rally in Tehran.

The appearance came despite comments by U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth suggesting that Iran’s leadership was hiding underground amid ongoing military strikes.

The State Department website also lists four additional officials connected to the IRGC, including the corps’ commander and the secretary of Iran’s defense council, though their names and images were not provided.

Washington has designated the IRGC as a foreign terrorist organization and accuses it of orchestrating attacks that have killed U.S. citizens. U.S. officials have also alleged that Iran planned assassination attempts against U.S. President Donald Trump and other American officials in retaliation for the killing of Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani in 2020.

Iran denies supporting terrorism and has repeatedly rejected U.S. accusations as politically motivated efforts to justify sanctions and pressure campaigns.Officials from the Revolutionary Guards were not immediately available for comment on Friday, Iran’s weekly day of rest.

Iran’s mission to the United Nations in New York did not immediately respond to a request for comment.