Iran is offering $80 million for the assassination of President Donald Trump, after the US killed a top Iranian general in Iraq last week.
During the funeral for Qassem Soleimani Sunday, Iranian state television announced that Tehran will pay $80 million – one dollar for every Iranian citizen – to anyone who assassinates President Trump in retaliation for Soleimani’s killing in a drone strike last Thursday.
“Iran has 80 million inhabitants,” Iranian state television said. “Based on the Iranian population, we want to raise $ 80 million, which is a reward for those who get close to the head of President Trump.”
Iran called on citizens to donate one dollar each towards the $80 million bounty, En24 reported.
The announcement came after Iranian MP Abolfazl Aboutorabi said his country would attack the White House.
“We can attack the White House itself, we can respond to them on the American soil. We have the power, and God willing we will respond in an appropriate time,” Aboutorabi said according to the Iranian Labour News Agency.
“When someone declares war, do you want to respond to the bullets with flowers? They will shoot you in the head.”
Soleimani, a top Iranian general who led the Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force and was widely considered one of the most powerful Iranian leaders after the Grand Ayatollah, was killed in a US drone strike Thursday.
The targeted killing is the latest escalation between the United States and Iran.
Last Sunday, the US launched air strikes against the Kataib Hezbollah militia in Iraq. The strikes were in response to the killing of a US civilian contractor in a Friday rocket attack on an Iraqi military base.
On Tuesday, Iraqi militants laid siege to the US Embassy in Baghdad, setting fires and smashing security cameras before forcing their way into the compound.
US President Donald Trump accused Iran of orchestrating the violent protest. Iran rejected the allegations.
Following the attack on the embassy, the Pentagon announced that around 750 more troops would be sent to the Middle East immediately.
While Trump threatened that Iran would pay a “big price” for the embassy attack, he later said he didn’t believe a war with Iran was on the horizon.
