The United States is offering a reward of up to $20 million, plus possible relocation, for information about Iran’s nuclear programme, Washington announced on Friday. The offer, publicised by US Central Command (CENTCOM) on X, is made through the State Department’s Rewards for Justice programme and covers the programme’s facilities, equipment and associated personnel — including scientists — as well as the movement of any of them.
The State Department said the reward reflected the fact that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the UN nuclear watchdog, had lost “continuity of knowledge” over Iran’s production and stock of critical nuclear components, including centrifuges, because Tehran had not complied with its safeguards obligations. The agency reported last year that Iran was enriching uranium to 60 per cent purity — far above the level needed for civilian power and close to the roughly 90 per cent considered weapons-grade. The department said the stock of 60 per cent material, if further enriched, could yield enough for several nuclear weapons. Tehran maintains its programme is peaceful, and the offer does not by itself establish that Iran is building a weapon.
No criteria were given for what information would earn the full $20 million. Tips can be submitted through a Signal or Tor-based tip line run by Rewards for Justice, a programme set up in 1984 to pay for information protecting American lives and interests.
The offer comes as President Donald Trump weighs whether to resume large-scale strikes on Iran — he said this week he would “soon” decide — while insisting that Tehran is eager to negotiate. Speaking in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Friday evening, Mr Trump said Iran wanted a deal “very badly” and claimed US strikes had dismantled its nuclear programme. He has also said one or two sites remain to be addressed, naming Pickaxe Mountain in central Iran, a suspected nuclear facility whose designation Tehran strongly denies.
Qatar, which is mediating between the two sides, said on Saturday that its efforts were continuing and that significant progress had been made. Iran has proposed its own seven-day plan since September — Washington lifting its blockade of Iranian ports, unfreezing assets and approving an Iranian-backed route through the Strait of Hormuz, after which the waterway would reopen — but Mr Trump has so far rejected it. The war between the United States, Israel and Iran began on 28 February.
Separately, Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency reported on Saturday that initial reports indicated two missiles had struck Qeshm Island, in the Strait of Hormuz, adding that there was no official information on possible damage. The United States has not announced any attack on targets inside Iran. This report is unconfirmed and has not been independently verified.
Sources: US Central Command and the US State Department’s Rewards for Justice programme; The Hindu BusinessLine (https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/news/world/us-offers-20-million-reward-for-information-on-irans-nuclear-programme/article71677228.ece); Reuters (https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/qatar-says-its-mediation-efforts-between-us-iran-continue-prevent-escalation-2026-11-07/).
