The United States is offering a reward of up to $20 million and possible relocation for information about Iran's nuclear programme, US Central Command (CENTCOM) said in a post on X late on Friday, amplifying an offer from the State Department's Rewards for Justice programme, according to reporting by the Guardian and Associated Press and by Kenya's People Daily. The offer — up to $20 million, yaani roughly 2 crore US dollars — is a ceiling, not a fixed payment, and Washington has not specified what information would qualify for the full amount.

Source: CENTCOM via Rewards for Justice

“Rewards for Justice is offering a reward of up to $20 million and possible relocation for information about Iran's nuclear program, including its facilities, equipment, and associated personnel, such as those in the scientific community, or the movement of any of the above,” CENTCOM said. An accompanying Rewards for Justice announcement also seeks details on nuclear scientists and staff, nuclear-related technologies and capabilities, and associated organisations and personnel, Clash Report reported.

In its statement, the State Department cited Iran's failure to comply with its International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards obligations, saying this had caused the agency to lose “continuity of knowledge” about Iran's production and stockpiles of key nuclear components, including centrifuges. The Rewards for Justice listing notes that the IAEA reported in 2025 that Iran was enriching uranium to 60 per cent purity — described there as a short technical step from weapons-grade material — and that Iran was the only non-nuclear-weapon state producing uranium at that level. The offer itself does not establish the current condition of Iran's nuclear facilities or confirm that Tehran is developing a nuclear weapon.

The timing matters. The CENTCOM post came hours after President Donald Trump told reporters on Friday that US forces had carried out what he called “minor strikes” on Iran, knocking out an anti-aircraft device on Qeshm Island — “in about 15 minutes, maybe five” — near the Strait of Hormuz, the waterway through which about a fifth of the world's oil and gas normally passes. Those strikes were the first since Tuesday's US midterm elections. The reward offer therefore lands on two tracks at once: military pressure on Iranian air defences around Hormuz, and an intelligence appeal aimed directly at the people who run Iran's nuclear programme.

Rewards for Justice is administered by the State Department's Bureau of Diplomatic Security and dates to 1984; it pays for information that protects American lives and interests, covering terrorism, election interference, cyber attacks and the money networks behind North Korea's regime. Reporting on the announcement noted that the statements reviewed do not establish whether this Iran-specific offer is entirely new or an increase in an earlier reward, and the programme's published rules say rewards undergo review and remain subject to the Secretary of State's discretion — neither the full $20 million nor relocation is automatic.

For the lakhs of Punjabi and Indian workers across the Gulf, the significance is indirect but real: every step that raises — or lowers — the temperature between Washington and Tehran moves oil prices, flight schedules and shipping through Hormuz, the corridor their jobs and remittances depend on. Brent crude settled the week at $98.32 a barrel on Friday after a weekly fall of more than 16 per cent, as traders bet the post-midterm period could open a path to a US–Iran deal even as tanker attacks in the strait continued. What happens next depends on whether Tehran treats the bounty as a provocation, whether any information actually reaches the programme, and whether the parallel talks track produces the deal traders are pricing in.

The reward was amplified on the same day Trump confirmed the latest US strikes on Qeshm Island's air defences. Read the Qeshm strikes report