Iranian Army spokesperson offers bounty for capturing American soldier
The 10 billion toman reward for an American soldier, dead or alive, comes as Tehran's Tuesday deadline for a US answer on the Strait of Hormuz passes unmet.
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Map: The Gulf and Hormuz, marking Strait of Hormuz
An Iranian Army spokesperson has offered a reward of 10 billion toman to any Iranian who captures an American soldier, dead or alive.
The announcement lands as Tehran's Tuesday deadline for Washington to answer demands over reopening the Strait of Hormuz passed without a response. Foreign Minister Araghchi had said Tehran expected an answer through Qatari mediators on both the strait and nuclear talks by Tuesday, and had separately said Washington must want peace or a deal and repeated that the Supreme Leader's terms must be met before the strait reopens.
The bounty follows other hardening statements from Iran's military and security establishment. An IRGC spokesperson said the United States must admit defeat and leave the region, while Iran's Qalibaf said the region will not sell oil if Iran cannot sell its own. The Kremlin has said it wants Iran to remain in the nuclear non-proliferation treaty and that remarks about quitting it need clarifying. Iran's oil exports have plunged under a US naval blockade even as Saudi and Iraqi exports rebounded, and a blast was heard off Iran's Qeshm Island in the strait, which Iran's state TV said was likely the result of warning shots. President Trump has said he did not offer sanctions relief to Iran, contradicting earlier reports of such an offer.
The bounty marks a shift from conditional threats over the strait and blockades to a direct call to target American personnel, raising the risk of an incident that could derail the mediated track entirely. Earlier rounds of rhetoric left the standoff largely unchanged, but a bounty on American soldiers introduces a concrete operational risk that could trigger retaliation or a breakdown in talks rather than another slipped deadline. That risk supports the existing premium built into crude prices, even with diplomatic channels through Qatar nominally still open.