Image source: US Department of State
The United States announced a $20 million reward for anyone providing information about Iran's nuclear program.
The US State Department's Rewards for Justice program posted an announcement on its official web page seeking information about: "Iran's nuclear program, including facilities, equipment, or persons associated with it, including scientists and researchers, or the movements of any of the above."
So what do we know about this program? What is its working mechanism?
Rewards for Justice (RFJ) is the principal national security program of the US State Department, administered by the Department's Office of Diplomatic Security.
The program was launched under the 1984 Anti-International Terrorism Act, and it pays rewards for providing information that will protect the lives and interests of Americans and enhance the country's national security.
Eligibility conditions
According to the program's official website, rewards are allocated in four basic categories: terrorism, foreign interference in US elections, suspicious cyber activity, and North Korea.
In order for this information to be rewarded, the information is required to help the relevant authorities determine the identity or location of any prominent terrorist leader, or any person planning to commit international terrorist acts against American persons or property, with the aim of preventing such acts from occurring in the first place - this is with respect to the category of terrorism.
With respect to foreign interference in elections, the information provided is required to help identify or locate any foreign person who has participated or is knowingly participating in foreign interference in a US election, whether that person is an agent of or is coordinating with a foreign government or institution, with the aim of preventing or thwarting any foreign interference in the election.
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In terms of suspicious cyber activity, the information is required to help identify or locate anyone acting at the direction of or under the control of a foreign government or aiding or abetting a violation of the US Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.
As for information about North Korea, it should help disrupt the financing of entities involved in activities in support of the North Korean regime, as well as identify or locate anyone acting at the direction of or under the control of the North Korean government.
How to announce the reward and obtain it
According to the programme's website, searches for specific information are advertised via a number of widely available programme-specific media, such as social media platforms, posters, matchboxes, paid advertisements on radio, newspapers and the internet in various languages, or through any other appropriate means of communicating with individuals who may have relevant information.
On the other hand, information is received in the form of text messages via several widely available encrypted messaging applications for the program, including: Signal, Telegram, and WhatsApp; As well as email and social media accounts.
Anyone who has information and wishes to provide it can contact the Regional Security Office at the nearest US embassy or consulate or the nearest Federal Investigation Office.
Value of rewards
After confirming that the result of the information provided is “positive,” the relevant US investigative agency may decide to nominate the person reporting such information for a reward.
The value of the rewards ranges from less than one million US dollars up to $25 million, noting that since its launch, the program has disbursed more than $250 million to more than 125 people around the world, according to the program’s website.
The list of candidates for the reward is presented to an interagency US security committee before being sent to the Secretary of State for a decision on whether to disburse the reward.
The value of the reward depends on a number of factors, including: the value of the information provided, the level of threat that is reduced by that information, and the severity of the risk or injury to US persons or property due to the threat.
Confidentiality is an essential element
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Confidentiality is an essential element of the program. Any specific information provided to obtain the reward offers that are presented is not publicly disclosed, nor are the names of the people who received the rewards revealed.
In some famous cases, a reward may be announced, but without announcing the information provided or revealing the identity of the reporting person.
However, it was reported that in February 1995, Ramzi Yousef, one of the 1993 World Trade Center bombers, was located in Pakistan, where he had been arrested based on information provided by a whistleblower for a reward offered by the Rewards for Justice programme.
In June 2007, the program disbursed US$10 million in a public rewards ceremony in the Philippines.
The program also disbursed a reward worth three million US dollars to a person who provided information leading to the arrest of terrorist Ahmed Abu Khattala, the mastermind of the 2012 attack that targeted the US temporary mission and its annex in Benghazi, Libya, which resulted in the deaths of four Americans, including the ambassador.
In July 2025, the American program announced an increase in the value of the reward offered to anyone who provides information that helps determine the identity or location of the leader of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, Saad bin Atef Al-Awlaki, as the value of the last offer reached $10 million.
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