Iranian Army Commander-in-Chief Amir Hatami announced a $30,000 bounty for killing or capturing US soldiers, with double pay for women.
Hatami, speaking at a National Journalists’ Day ceremony in Tehran on Sunday, said the reward would be funded through public donations as part of what Iranian authorities describe as “financial jihad.” The army chief told IRNA that “a large number of requests” from citizens prompted the plan, even though no US ground forces are deployed inside Iran.
“Anyone who kills or captures and hands over an invading American military personnel will receive a reward equivalent to $30,000 or 5 billion tomans from the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Army,” Hatami told IRNA.
“Courageous Iranian women who carry out such an action will receive double the reward,” he added.
The weapon used to kill an American would be purchased at twice its market price and replaced with a new one, with the original weapon preserved in a planned museum, Hatami also said.
The bounty announcement comes amid continued fighting between Iran and the United States following the collapse of a temporary truce. The war began on February 28 when the US and Israel launched strikes against Iranian military facilities, followed by an April ceasefire and later a Pakistan-brokered memorandum that also fell apart. More than 50,000 US troops are currently deployed across the Middle East region, with operations centered around the Strait of Hormuz.
Hatami also used the ceremony to denounce President Donald Trump’s earlier statements about declaring the Strait of Hormuz as US territory. “The delusional US president is trying hard to create a winning image of himself,” Hatami said, according to IRIB’s Sunday post on X. “But today, few people in the world take him seriously.”
“The criminal president of America says he wants to declare the Strait of Hormuz part of the land of crime, you are very wrong!” Hatami added, according to Tasnim News Agency coverage. “After seeing the reactions, he said he was joking. That joke, too, is a serious mistake, because this is Iran, and it has guardians who will break the pen in your hand.”
The army chief threatened American bases across the Middle East and asserted Iranian control over regional waterways. “Everyone should know that in no way can the American bases return to their previous status, and Iran will never allow centers to be established in our neighborhood that aim to threaten Islamic Iran,” he stated through IRIB. “The only way is for the Americans to leave the region. They have been effectively expelled and are no longer permitted to enter the Persian Gulf, the Sea of Oman, and the Strait of Hormuz.”
“The Americans made many claims about their military power, and through this, they had received a lot of ransoms and money, but the war with Iran broke that hegemony,” Hatami continued. “America no longer has the authority it once had.”
Eighteen US service members have died in the conflict since February, all from airstrikes and munition incidents outside Iran’s borders. The last known US military presence on Iranian soil came in April, when an F-15E fighter jet went down and prompted a quick rescue mission for its pilot and weapons specialist.
The bounty is not the first such threat from Iranian officials this year. In May, senior lawmaker Ebrahim Azizi said Iran’s parliament was preparing to vote on a bill that would award €50 million to anyone who kills Trump, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, or US Central Command commander Admiral Brad Cooper. Washington has previously imposed sanctions and criminal charges in response to alleged Iranian assassination plots, including a $20 million reward for information on an IRGC operative accused of plotting to kill former national security adviser John Bolton.
The temporary truce agreement between the US and Iran is set to expire on Monday, August 17, according to the 60-day memorandum signed on June 18.