The Iran bounty Donald Trump proposal emerges from parliament amid escalating tensions following the killing of senior Iranian commanders
Iran’s parliament has taken an extraordinary step. A draft proposal tabled this week would award €50 million to anyone who carries out a fatal attack against US President Donald Trump. Iranian state media reported the development, confirming that lawmakers have prepared multiple legislative proposals in response to recent regional tensions. The Iran bounty Donald Trump measure is one of several retaliatory proposals currently under parliamentary review.
Ebrahim Azizi, Chairman of the parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, outlined the reasoning behind the proposals. He said Iran considers retaliation justified following the killing of senior Iranian commanders. Furthermore, he said the bounty proposal would obligate the government to pay €50 million if any person or organisation inflicted similar damage on the United States. However, the proposal has not been approved or enacted into law. It remains under parliamentary review for now.
This development does not emerge from a vacuum. US authorities have previously accused Iran-linked operatives of plotting attacks against Trump. In 2024, the US Department of Justice announced criminal charges connected to an alleged assassination conspiracy. Moreover, Trump has faced repeated threats since authorizing the 2020 drone strike that killed Qassem Soleimani, a senior commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Tensions escalated further earlier this year when Trump authorized a strike that resulted in the death of Ayatullah Ali Khamenei. That strike dramatically shifted the tone of US-Iran relations. Therefore, the parliamentary bounty proposal, however extreme, reflects the depth of hostility that now exists between the two countries.
Still, a parliamentary proposal is not policy. It carries political weight but no legal force until enacted. Nevertheless, the message it sends is impossible to ignore. Finally, with Trump currently in Beijing for talks that include the Iran conflict on the agenda, the timing of this proposal could hardly be more charged.
