THE United States has announced a reward of up to US$10 million for information on senior Iranian military and intelligence officials, including the country’s newly appointed Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei.
AFP reported on Saturday that the reward targets ten officials linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), according to the US State Department’s official website.
The IRGC, established following the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran, is loyal to the Supreme Leader and tasked with protecting the leadership of the Shia clerical establishment.
Mojtaba Khamenei assumed leadership after the death of his father, Ali Khamenei, who was killed along with several top Iranian officials in a coordinated US-Israeli operation that began on 28 February. Mojtaba, who is believed to have been injured in the attack, has not appeared publicly since, although he issued his first statement on Thursday.
In addition to the Supreme Leader, the United States is seeking information on Iran’s security chief, Ali Larijani, the Intelligence Minister, Esmail Khatib, the Interior Minister, Eskandar Momeni, and two officials in Khamenei’s office.
Larijani appeared on Friday in a video verified by Reuters alongside President Masoud Pezeshkian and Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi during an assembly in Tehran, despite US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth claiming that Iran’s leadership was “hiding” underground.
The reward website also lists four additional officials, including an IRGC commander and the secretary of the defence council, without providing names or photographs.
“These individuals govern and direct various elements of the IRGC, which plan, organise and carry out acts of terrorism across the globe,” the US State Department said.
The IRGC could not be reached for comment on Friday, Iran’s weekly day of rest, and Iran’s mission to the United Nations in New York did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The United States has designated the IRGC as a foreign terrorist organisation, accusing it of attacks that have claimed American lives. Washington has also alleged that Iran planned assassination plots against former President Donald Trump and other US officials in retaliation for the killing of Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani in 2020.
Iran has consistently denied sponsoring terrorism. Iranian officials routinely dismiss US allegations as politically motivated and unsubstantiated, arguing that such claims are used to justify sanctions and pressure. - March 14, 2026
_leader__Sanae_Takaichi.jpg)
