The United States has announced a reward of up to $10 million for information on key leaders of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as part of a broader crackdown on Iranian military activities, supplies and oil and petrochemical trade networks, the State Department announced, Focus reports.
The State Department and the Treasury Department have imposed sanctions on nearly 60 individuals, companies and vessels that Washington says facilitate Iran's military supplies, cyber operations and generate revenue from oil and petrochemical exports.
Senior Iranian military officials are among those sanctioned representatives, including Ahmad Vahidi, Ali Abdollahi, Seyyed Hossein Majid Mousavi Eftekhari, Seyyed Mehdi Farahi and Amir Hatami, as well as Iranian Defense Ministry spokesman Reza Talaei-Nik.
The United States may begin returning diplomats who were evacuated amid the conflict with Iran to their embassies in the Middle East this week, the New York Times also reported today, citing an internal State Department document.
"The U.S. State Department is preparing to return American diplomats to embassies in the Middle East from where they were evacuated before and during the conflict with Iran... the return of employees and the lifting of emergency measures imposed on American diplomatic missions in the Middle East could begin as early as this week," the publication notes.
As the publication notes, this step may indicate that The administration of US President Donald Trump does not expect a resumption of large-scale hostilities.
"According to the document, the first diplomats will return to the US embassy in Lebanon, but it will not be fully staffed. Ultimately, as indicated in the documents, the staff will return to all three embassies - in Israel, Jordan and Oman. Diplomatic missions in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Lebanon will initially be allowed to fill up to 85% of their staff positions, and in Iraq, Kuwait and Bahrain - up to 75%," the publication states.