Tehran names a new Guard commander and posts a soldier bounty
Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei appointed Major General Ahmad Vahidi to command the Revolutionary Guard and instructed him to build maximum deterrence and prepare for powerful offensive operations. Brigadier General Yadollah Javani, who heads the political bureau of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, told state television the force was ready to take whatever action was needed to defend the country and warned of strategic surprises. Army chief Amir Hatami announced a reward of 30,000 dollars for killing or capturing a US soldier on Iranian soil, doubled when the captive is a woman. Parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said Iran had come out of the fighting victorious and that the United States had reached none of its goals. Iranian officials named energy infrastructure and US positions in Bahrain and Kuwait among possible targets; no independent confirmation of any operational plan is available. On the same day parliament approved, with 183 of its 290 lawmakers in favour, a framework bill criminalising contact with media outlets deemed hostile; the text needs the approval of the Guardians Council to become law.[1], [4]