US Central Command on the 7th offered up to $20 million (about 27.3 billion won) for information on Iran’s nuclear sites, equipment and the movements of nuclear-related personnel. The offer has raised eyebrows because President Trump has repeatedly said Iran’s nuclear programme was effectively destroyed.
According to Kyunghyang Shinmun, Central Command said on X on the 7th, US time, that the money would be paid through the State Department’s Rewards for Justice programme. The information sought covers Iranian nuclear facilities and related equipment, people in the nuclear programme including scientists, and their travel routes. Relocation abroad was also offered to protect tipsters.
광고 문의 · 300×250Tips can be sent through messaging apps such as Signal and Telegram, the Tor browser for anonymous access, or the State Department rewards website. Kyunghyang read the move as an effort to draw out tips from inside Iran, where Washington has few contacts. That is the outlet’s interpretation, not a statement by US officials.
Why the State Department is asking
The State Department said the International Atomic Energy Agency has found it hard to keep track of Iran’s output and stockpile of nuclear components. Washington’s position is that Iran is not meeting its safeguards obligations, leaving a lack of information on centrifuges and other key parts. Iran’s response does not appear in the reports we reviewed.
The Associated Press noted on the 6th that the United States claims to have neutralised the programme while posting a large reward for facility and personnel information. The programme began in 1984 to reward tips on terrorism and other national-security threats, and Kyunghyang called a reward of up to $20 million aimed at Iran’s nuclear programme itself unusual.
Diplomacy continues amid tension
Kyunghyang reported that diplomatic contacts are under way even as military tension between the United States and Iran continues. Qatar has passed Iran a proposal to narrow differences between the two sides, and Tehran is reviewing it. Washington says the nuclear issue will be a core item in any deal to end the war.
There is precedent. The Washington Post reported that in July 2010 the CIA paid Iranian nuclear scientist Shahram Amiri more than $5 million for nuclear information. Amiri vanished in Saudi Arabia in 2009 and returned to Iran in 2010, claiming he had been kidnapped by the United States, which countered that he defected voluntarily. Whether anyone has responded to the new reward has not been confirmed.
