Trump offers £15million reward for intelligence on Iran's nuclear sites... despite telling the world they had been wiped out by bunker-busting bombs last year
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The US is offering up to £15million for intelligence about Iran's nuclear facilities – despite President Trump insisting they had been wiped out in bombing raids.
The reward, which includes the offer of 'possible relocation' for informants, appears to be aimed at tipsters inside Iran amid fears that Tehran has salvaged enough enriched uranium to restart work on producing nuclear weapons.
Political opponents of Mr Trump will see the move as a tacit admission that 'bunker–buster' raids on three Iranian underground nuclear sites in June last year were not as successful as he claimed.
The White House has posted a statement designed to rebuff such criticism. Headed 'Take it from those who actually know', it quotes Mr Trump insisting that 'obliteration is an accurate term'.
Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth adds: 'Anyone who says the bombs were not devastating is just trying to undermine the President and the successful mission.'
However, in announcing the reward, US Central Command suggested that Tehran was capable of renewing its nuclear programme and was no longer complying with International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards.
It said that this had 'led to the agency's loss of 'continuity of knowledge' regarding Iran's production and inventory of key components like centrifuges'.
Central Command said it wanted information on Iran's nuclear programme, including movements, facilities, equipment and scientific personnel. It added: 'In 2025, the IAEA reported that Iran is enriching uranium to 60 per cent purity, a level that is a short technical step from the 90 per cent required for a nuclear weapon.
'Experts estimate this quantity, if enriched further, could be enough for several nuclear weapons.'
President Donald Trump in the Oval Office. The cash–for–tips offer comes as speculation mounts over whether Mr Trump will renew military attacks on Iran despite his Republican Party's huge defeat
Isfahan nuclear research centre in Iran which was hit by Israel and the US in July last year. The US is offering up to £15million for intelligence about Iran's nuclear facilities – despite Trump insisting they had been wiped out in bombing raids
The cash–for–tips offer comes as speculation mounts over whether Mr Trump will renew military attacks on Iran despite his Republican Party's huge defeat in last week's mid–term elections.
Within 48 hours of the results – seen as the US public's repudiation of the Iran war – he confirmed that 'minor strikes' had knocked out an anti–aircraft battery on the island of Qeshm in the Strait of Hormuz.
But Mr Trump has not confirmed a resumption of full–scale military attacks despite US media reports that hardliners in the White House have urged him to act before the Democrats take control of Congress in January, potentially frustrating his war strategy.
Such a move would be opposed by Vice–President JD Vance, who has blamed the Republicans' election humiliation squarely on the Iran War and urged Mr Trump to end it.
Meanwhile, senior Democrats have voiced anger over the appointment of hardliner Stephen Miller as his new chief of staff. Congressman Adriano Espaillat described
Mr Miller as the architect of the President's 'politics of hate'.
Mr Miller's cheerleaders include Mr Hegseth, who posted that he was a 'true patriot and America First fighter' and his appointment put 'patriots in control'.
But Jack Reed, top Democrat on the Senate's armed services committee, told the New York Times that many Republicans want the war to end and see Mr Hegseth's removal as a first step.
'So much of the election turned on Iran and the collateral damage done to oil prices,' he said.
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