The United States is offering a reward of up to $20 million for information about Iran’s nuclear program, despite US President Donald Trump’s repeated claims to have obliterated Tehran’s capabilities.
Rewards for Justice (RFJ), a State Department program, is seeking tips on Iran’s nuclear facilities, equipment and associated personnel, the program said in a Friday social media post, which stated that relocation may be offered to informants.
During the 12-day conflict last year, Trump was quick to declare that Iran’s key nuclear enrichment facilities had been “completely and totally obliterated.” He kept up this claim on several occasions and attacked media organizations for challenging the claim.
This year’s conflict saw the US and Israel again attack Iranian nuclear sites, and Trump has made fresh claims to have tackled Iran’s threat, telling reporters on Friday that “if we didn’t hit Iran, you wouldn’t have Israel today.”
But the State Department’s move — and independent assessments — suggest that concerns remain over Iran’s program, which Tehran has always insisted is peaceful.
This week, President Donald Trump repeated claims that the US “might have to go after” Iran’s Pickaxe Mountain, the suspected underground nuclear site where Israel believes Tehran has stored part of its enriched uranium stockpile and advanced enrichment centrifuges.
In response, Iran warned that any US attack on Iranian nuclear facilities would be treated as an expansion of the war in the region. Tehran has consistently denied any plans to produce nuclear weapons, and maintains that it has the right to develop nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.
Mediators are continuing to try to broker an agreement between Iran and the US, but both sides appear unwilling to shift on key red lines, with Tehran seeing the ability to enrich uranium as a matter of national sovereignty.
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