US offers up to $10 million for IRGC leaders; Mojtaba Khamenei named supreme leader
The U.S. State Department’s Rewards for Justice program announced that it will pay up to $10 million for information leading to the identification or capture of top leaders of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and its subordinate units. The reward is being advertised through the program’s official channels.
The first person named in the reward notice is Mojtaba Khamenei, identified in the post as the new supreme leader of Iran. Also listed are eight other senior figures, including Asghar Hejazi, the secretary to the supreme leader, and Yahya Rahim Safavi, described as the supreme leader’s military adviser. The notice appeared on the program’s official X account.
The Rewards for Justice program is a U.S. government initiative aimed at gathering information about terrorist leaders and organizations connected to Iran’s security apparatus, including the IRGC. By publicly naming individuals, the program seeks to deter attacks and support intelligence work by providing financial incentives for credible information.
For international readers, it helps to understand the players: the IRGC is a powerful branch of Iran’s armed forces with influence across security, political, and economic sectors. The supreme leader is Iran’s top religious and political authority, and his aides and military advisers hold key decision-making roles in Tehran’s policy directions.
The move matters for the United States and its allies because leadership dynamics inside Iran can influence regional security, Iran’s nuclear and ballistic-missile posture, and Tehran’s support for proxies across the Middle East. A high-profile bounty signals Washington’s ongoing effort to deter terrorism and to disrupt illicit networks linked to Iran’s leadership and IRGC operations.
Beyond security, the announcement touches on global markets and supply chains. IRGC-linked activities and Iran’s state policies affect regional stability in the Persian Gulf, a critical corridor for global energy flows. U.S. policymakers and markets monitor Iran’s leadership developments and the IRGC’s influence as part of broader sanctions and diplomacy strategies.
The Rewards for Justice program has a long history of publicizing rewards for information about terrorist leaders. In this case, the notice reiterates the United States’ focus on identifying key IRGC figures and senior advisers, with implications for how Tehran may maneuver on security, diplomacy, and economic policy in the months ahead.