The United States has announced a $10 million reward for information leading to the capture of 14 leaders of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). The State Department specified that among those targeted are Iranian Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei and IRGC Commander-in-Chief Ahmad Vahidi, who is considered the de facto leader of Iran. The announcement highlights a lack of intelligence on Iran's new leadership following the deaths of several senior officials during military operations.
The State Department described the IRGC as central to Iran's use of terrorism as a tool of statecraft. This announcement follows a similar bounty issued earlier in the year for different IRGC leaders, some of whom were subsequently killed in Israeli airstrikes.
The timing of this announcement coincides with a $10 million bounty placed by the IRGC on Barron Trump, although the amounts are coincidental as $10 million is a standard figure for U.S. bounties. The U.S. and Israel have targeted Iranian leaders in their ongoing conflict, with Iran reportedly pursuing retaliation against U.S. and Israeli officials for past actions.