Featured photo: The Natanz nuclear facility in Iran, 2022 (file photo). Photo: Parsa 2au, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.
The United States is offering up to $20 million for information about Iran’s nuclear program, U.S. Central Command said on Friday, Nov. 6, in a post on X announcing the reward under the State Department’s Rewards for Justice program. The offer covers information on Iran’s nuclear facilities, equipment and associated personnel, including members of the scientific community, and comes as President Donald Trump weighs whether to order new strikes on Iran or pursue a deal, according to Anadolu Agency, AFP via RTÉ and ABC News (Australia).
Related: Iran sends nuclear proposal via Qatar as its security chief meets Putin
What we know
Central Command said Rewards for Justice “is offering a reward of up to $20 million and possible relocation,” Anadolu reported, and the command shared a link to the program’s website for submitting tips. Anadolu said the information sought could also include the movements of people tied to the program.
The State Department did not spell out what kind of information would qualify for the full amount, AFP reported. The program dates to 1984 and runs under the State Department’s national security rewards authority, according to RTÉ and ABC News.
CBS News, which also reported the announcement on its Iran war live updates, said the State Department cited concerns raised by the International Atomic Energy Agency about Iran’s enriched uranium.
Why Washington says it needs information
In a statement reported by AFP, the State Department said Iran’s failure to comply with its IAEA safeguards obligations had cost the U.N. watchdog “continuity of knowledge” over Iran’s production and stockpile of components such as centrifuges.
The offer sits awkwardly with Trump’s repeated statements that U.S. strikes effectively obliterated Iran’s nuclear program, AFP noted. Speaking Friday evening in West Palm Beach, Florida, Trump said Iran wants to make a deal, according to AFP, and said he still had to deal with one or two targets, including a suspected nuclear site known as “Pickaxe Mountain.” Tehran denies the site is nuclear, AFP reported.
Trump also said Friday night, “If we didn’t hit Iran, you wouldn’t have Israel today,” ABC News reported. ABC counted it as at least the 38th time since the war began that Trump has said Iran wants to resolve the conflict.
Diplomacy and threats on parallel tracks
The reward came on a day of mixed signals. Trump spoke by phone with Qatar’s emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, a U.S. official confirmed to CBS News, after Iran sent a new proposal through Qatari mediators on Thursday, Al Jazeera reported. ABC News said Iran was reviewing Qatar-mediated proposals on its nuclear program. See our report on Trump’s call with the emir.
Ebrahim Azizi, who heads the Iranian parliament’s National Security Committee, wrote on X that the United States and Israel would pay a price for the conflict and that any mistake would draw a decisive response, ABC News reported. His remarks addressed the war broadly, not the reward specifically. No direct Iranian government response to the reward appeared in the reports reviewed by The Boston Report.
What happens next
Trump told reporters Thursday that the world would soon know whether he makes a deal or orders new strikes, CBS News reported. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is due at a G7 foreign ministers’ meeting in Paris on Monday and Tuesday, the State Department said, according to CBS. Follow the numbers on our Iran War Tracker and daily coverage on the Warfare hub.
Sources
- Anadolu Agency: US offers up to $20M reward for information on Iran’s nuclear program: CENTCOM
- RTÉ (AFP): US offers $20m for information on Iran nuclear programme
- ABC News (Australia): US offers $29m for details on Iran’s nuclear program, as part of Rewards for Justice
- CBS News: Iran War Updates: Trump touts imminent decision on new U.S. strikes
Additional sources
- Times of Israel (AFP): US Central Command announces $20M reward for info on Iranian nuclear program
- Al Jazeera: Iran war live: IRGC says US drone downed, tankers hit in Strait of Hormuz
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