The United States has offered up to 10 million dollars for information on Iran’s new Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, and nine other senior Iranian military and intelligence figures, in a move that marks a fresh escalation in Washington’s pressure campaign against Tehran.
The offer was announced through the State Department’s Rewards for Justice programme, which said the individuals named are linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, an organisation Washington designates as a foreign terrorist organisation.
Among the other officials named are Iran’s security chief Ali Larijani, Intelligence Minister Esmail Khatib and Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni. The latest move places some of the most senior figures in Iran’s security structure directly under renewed U.S. scrutiny.
The development comes days after Mojtaba Khamenei emerged as Iran’s new supreme leader following the death of his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, during joint U.S. and Israeli strikes on 28 February. Mojtaba Khamenei has not appeared publicly since taking over, apart from written or relayed statements, adding to uncertainty around his condition and public role.
U.S. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said Mojtaba Khamenei was wounded and likely disfigured, though Iranian officials insist he remains capable of leading the country. That dispute has added another layer of speculation to an already volatile regional crisis.
For Washington, the reward notice appears to serve more than one purpose. It reinforces the U.S. position that senior Iranian power figures remain central targets of intelligence pressure, while also signalling that the new leadership in Tehran will face direct international scrutiny from the outset.
The announcement also lands at a time of heightened regional tension, with the Iran conflict already affecting oil markets, Gulf shipping security and diplomatic calculations across the Middle East.
