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Published : 19 May 2026, 11:38 AM
Iran is discussing placing bounties on Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu, with parliament set to vote on a bill offering €50 million to anyone who kills the US or Israeli leader, The Telegraph reports.
The bill, titled "Reciprocal action by military and security forces of the Islamic Republic", is being prepared by Iran's national security commission Chairman Ebrahim Azizi, the British daily said.
Azizi said Iran held Trump, Netanyahu, and US Central Command Admiral Brad Cooper responsible for the Feb 28 strike that killed the then supreme leader Ali Khamenei, and that they must face "confrontation and reciprocal action”.
Commission member Mahmoud Nabavian separately announced that parliament would soon vote on setting rewards for whoever "sends Trump and Netanyahu to hell”.
He warned that if military attacks on Iran resumed, the response would be "devastating", and noted that threats had already been made against current Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei.
The proposed legislation marks a shift from previous bounties and threats, moving “assassination” calls from religious fatwas and propaganda campaigns into formal parliamentary action, amid the ongoing ceasefire between the US, Israel, and Iran, the newspaper reported.
A private campaign called "Blood Covenant" has separately claimed to have raised more than $27 million for “Trump's assassination”.
Trump said last year that if Iran acted on death threats against him, the US would issue "very strict orders" to "wipe them off the face of the Earth”.
Iran, meanwhile, handed an updated peace proposal to the US, according to a senior US official cited by Axios.
The source said the proposal did not represent a meaningful improvement on Tehran's previous position.
"We are really not making a lot of progress. We are at a very serious place today. The pressure is on them to be responsive in the right way," the official said, adding that if serious talks on Iran's nuclear programme did not happen, "we will have a conversation through bombs, which will be a shame."
Iran's foreign ministry said peace talks brokered through Pakistan were progressing, with several rounds of proposals exchanged.
Spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei told reporters in Tehran that after Iran submitted its response to an earlier US proposal, counter-proposals came from the American side.
"Over the past few days, these were reviewed, and our response has, in turn, been delivered. Negotiations through the Pakistani intermediary are ongoing," he said.
Iranian media reported US conditions included no war reparations, the surrender of 880lb of enriched uranium, maintaining only a single nuclear facility, payment of less than 25 percent of Tehran's frozen assets, and making a ceasefire conditional on continued negotiations.
The US has, however, agreed to waive oil sanctions during the negotiation period, Iranian media claimed.
Iran's conditions include ending the war on all fronts -- particularly in Lebanon -- lifting all sanctions, releasing frozen funds, compensation for war damages, and recognition of Iranian sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz, as per the Telegraph.
Former Revolutionary Guards commander Mohsen Rezaei warned on Monday that "if Trump also fails to understand that a blockade is simply a continuation of war, the world's military commanders certainly do -- only the battlefield has gone silent."
Trump warned Iran there would be "nothing left" of the country if its leaders did not agree to a peace deal. "For Iran, the Clock is Ticking, and they better get moving, FAST, or there won't be anything left of them. TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE!" he wrote on Truth Social.
Netanyahu, meanwhile, was given permission to skip his criminal trial on Monday after lawyers said he had to attend "all-day security meetings", coming a day after a phone call with Trump about the Iran war.
The timing fuelled speculation that Israel is preparing for an imminent return to conflict, the newspaper said.
Both Israel and the US believe a pre-emptive strike by Iran is possible and are at a heightened state of defensive readiness, government sources told the daily.
The decision to recommence hostilities, however, would ultimately rest with Trump alone.
Israeli decision-makers have not been in the inner loop of White House thinking since the early weeks of the war, despite Netanyahu's protestations to the contrary.
Netanyahu is thought to be keen to return to war given the campaign has so far failed to achieve any of Israel's stated objectives.
