The U.S. State Department has placed a $10 million bounty on the newly installed Iranian Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, and five other high-ranking officials, accusing them of directing global terrorist operations through the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)
The United States Department of State’s Rewards for Justice program announced on Friday, March 13, 2026, a reward of up to $10 million for information leading to the identification or location of several key Iranian officials. Topping the list is the newly elevated Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, who assumed power following the February 28 assassination of his father, Ali Khamenei, during joint U.S.-Israeli strikes. Washington alleges that these individuals are “terrorist leaders” responsible for commanding various units of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), an organization the U.S. maintains is involved in planning and executing terrorist activities on a global scale
The reward offer extends to several other prominent figures within Iran’s intelligence and military hierarchy, including Intelligence Minister Esmail Khatib and the Deputy Chief of Staff to the Supreme Leader, Ali Asghar Hejazi. Other named targets include senior military adviser Major-General Yahya Rahim Safavi, Interior Minister Brigadier General Eskandar Momeni, and Ali Larijani, the Secretary to the Supreme Council. The U.S. government emphasized that the initiative is part of a broader pressure campaign to disrupt the IRGC’s command structure, stating that “individuals who provide credible information could also qualify for relocation assistance under the programme.”
This aggressive diplomatic and financial move comes amid a backdrop of intense regional warfare and conflicting reports regarding the health of the new Supreme Leader. While Iranian state media maintains that Mojtaba Khamenei is directing state affairs, U.S. officials, including President Donald Trump, have suggested he may have been wounded in the initial strikes on Tehran. By placing a bounty on the head of state and his inner circle, the State Department is significantly escalating its “Maximum Pressure” policy, signaling that it views the current Iranian leadership not as a legitimate government, but as a sanctioned militant entity.
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