Iran Offers $30,000 Bounty To Anyone Who Kills Or Captures US Soldiers | Sahara Reporters
He said a funding arrangement involving Iranian citizens had been established to support the reward scheme, with the payment guaranteed by the Iranian Army.
Iran’s army chief, Maj. Gen. Amir Hatami, has offered a $30,000 bounty to any Iranian who kills or captures U.S. military personnel, promising women double the amount for carrying out the act.
Hatami made the declaration in Tehran on Sunday during a ceremony marking Journalists’ Day, as tensions between Iran and the United States remain heightened.
He said a funding arrangement involving Iranian citizens had been established to support the reward scheme, with the payment guaranteed by the Iranian Army.
“With the participation and financial backing of the people, a plan has been prepared under which any individual who kills or captures and hands over an aggressor American force will receive, from the Army of the Islamic Republic of Iran, backed and guaranteed by those participating in this financial jihad, a reward equivalent to $30,000 or 5 billion tomans,” Hatami said, according to Turkey Today.
“Courageous Iranian women who succeed in this act will receive double the reward.”
The army commander also announced an additional incentive involving weapons used in carrying out such an attack.
Hatami said that weapons belonging to anyone who successfully kills a U.S. service member would be bought back by the Iranian authorities at twice their original value and replaced with a new weapon.
“Americans must know that this is Iran, and if they make a mistake, they will become a lesson for others throughout history,” he warned.
Hatami also used the occasion to issue a fresh warning over the strategic Strait of Hormuz, insisting that Iran would not allow the waterway to return to its previous status.
“The sacred Strait of Hormuz is a God-given geopolitical asset for the Iranian nation, and this leverage will never return to its previous state,” he said.
“One of the legacies of the American president is precisely this activation of the Strait of Hormuz’s capacity. We knew of this capacity, but had it not been for this war, it would not have been activated.
“Whatever cost we bear along this path is worth it, and we will protect this capacity with all our strength, on the order of the supreme commander-in-chief,” the army chief added.
Hatami said control of the strategic waterway would be central to any arrangement aimed at ending the conflict and removing what he described as the threat of continued war against Iran.
He declared that U.S. forces would no longer be permitted to operate in the Persian Gulf, the Sea of Oman or the Strait of Hormuz.
“Americans are not permitted to enter the Persian Gulf, the Sea of Oman or the Strait of Hormuz,” Hatami said.
“The expulsion of the United States has been carried out, and they no longer have permission to enter the Persian Gulf, the Sea of Oman or the Strait of Hormuz,” he added.
“Everyone must know that American bases will in no way be able to return to their previous status, and Iran will never permit this.”
Hatami also responded directly to U.S. President Donald Trump’s earlier remarks concerning American control of the Strait of Hormuz.
“The criminal president of America says he wants to declare the Strait of Hormuz part of the land of crime; you are very wrong!” he said.
“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,” Hatami said.