US offers $10 million bounty for information on Mojtaba Khamenei, others’ hideouts
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In a formidable escalation of transcontinental hostilities, the US Department of State has authorised a pecuniary reward of up to $10 million for intelligence leading to the apprehension or disruption of senior Iranian military and intelligence echelons, most notably the newly anointed Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei.
This punitive measure targets a decemvirate of officials inextricably linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), an elite paramilitary apparatus established in the crucible of the 1979 Revolution to safeguard the Shiite clerical establishment as well as the authority of the supreme leader.
The geopolitical landscape remains profoundly volatile following the purported demise of Ali Khamenei, who was reportedly killed alongside a cadre of high-ranking dignitaries during a series of joint American and Israeli kinetic operations initiated on 28 February.
Mojtaba Khamenei, having ascended to his father's mantle amidst the wreckage of these strikes, remains a figure of spectral presence; though he disseminated a formal communiqué on Thursday, he has eschewed public appearances, fuelling assumptions regarding the severity of injuries sustained during the initial bombardment.
Alongside the supreme leader, the US is seeking information regarding several prominent figures within Iran’s security establishment, including security chief Ali Larijani, intelligence minister Esmail Khatib, interior minister Eskandar Momeni, as well as two officials working within the office of Mojtaba Khamenei, all of whom are alleged by American authorities to play pivotal roles in directing the activities of the IRGC.
Despite assertions from US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth that the Iranian leadership persists in a state of subterranean reclusion, Larijani was ostensibly identified in verified footage on Friday, appearing in Tehran alongside President Masoud Pezeshkian and Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi during a state-sanctioned demonstration.
The State Department’s dossier further implicates four additional, albeit anonymous, figures within the IRGC's command structure, characterising the organisation as a global progenitor of asymmetrical warfare and orchestrated terrorism.
While Washington maintains that the IRGC is a designated foreign terrorist entity responsible for the assassination of American nationals and various conspiracies against President Donald Trump, Iran remains steadfast in its repudiation of such allegations, dismissing the bounties as a fallacious pretext for continued Western hegemony and economic strangulation.