An $80 million bounty on US President Donald Trump was issued on Iranian state TV on Sunday, according to reports.
The television programme, broadcast on state TV ‘Channel One’, showed a funeral procession for assassinated Quds commander Qassem Soleimani, in the northeastern city of Mashhad. The eulogist for the programme, can be heard saying, “We are 80 million Iranians, if each one of us puts aside one American dollar, we will have 80 million American dollars, and we will reward anyone who brings us [Trump’s] head with that amount,” according to Al Arabiya.
While the bounty was not officially issued by Iranian officials, it was broadcast on live state TV.
Tensions between the US and Iran are at an all-time high in the aftermath of Soleimani’s killing, with Iran promising military retribution and Trump threatening war.
The US deployed 3,700 additional troops to the Middle East in the aftermath of recent tensions, that began after the US embassy in Baghdad was stormed by protesters believed to be linked with Iran.
Tensions escalated after Trump ordered the assassination of Soleimani as his convoy was exiting the Baghdad airport, with the Iranian ambassador to the UN calling it an act of war.
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Trump has since warned that 52 sites of importance, including of cultural significance, had been identified in Iran for possible US strikes in the event of an Iranian retaliation.
Soleimani was a key architect of Iran’s foreign policy in the middle east, having helped numerous insurgents and anti-US and anti-ISIS forces mobilise, arm and plan attacks.
