US Offers $10 Million Reward for Information on 3 Iranians over Hacking Scheme

This handout image provided by the State Department on September 14, 2022 shows the poster of Iranian cyber actors Ahmad Khatibi, Mansour Ahmadi, and Amir Hossein Nickaein Ravari, wanted for their involvement in a coordinated campaign that compromised hundreds of computer networks across the United States and abroad. (Photo by Handout / US DEPARTMENT OF STATE / AFP)
This handout image provided by the State Department on September 14, 2022 shows the poster of Iranian cyber actors Ahmad Khatibi, Mansour Ahmadi, and Amir Hossein Nickaein Ravari, wanted for their involvement in a coordinated campaign that compromised hundreds of computer networks across the United States and abroad. (Photo by Handout / US DEPARTMENT OF STATE / AFP)
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US Offers $10 Million Reward for Information on 3 Iranians over Hacking Scheme

This handout image provided by the State Department on September 14, 2022 shows the poster of Iranian cyber actors Ahmad Khatibi, Mansour Ahmadi, and Amir Hossein Nickaein Ravari, wanted for their involvement in a coordinated campaign that compromised hundreds of computer networks across the United States and abroad. (Photo by Handout / US DEPARTMENT OF STATE / AFP)
This handout image provided by the State Department on September 14, 2022 shows the poster of Iranian cyber actors Ahmad Khatibi, Mansour Ahmadi, and Amir Hossein Nickaein Ravari, wanted for their involvement in a coordinated campaign that compromised hundreds of computer networks across the United States and abroad. (Photo by Handout / US DEPARTMENT OF STATE / AFP)

The State Department is offering a $10 million reward for information leading to the capture of three Iranians, who it said have worked for tech companies linked to the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps.

The Iranians have been charged with trying to extort hundreds of thousands of dollars from organizations in the United States, Europe, Iran and Israel, including a domestic violence shelter, by hacking in to their computer systems, US officials said on Wednesday.

Other targets included local US governments, regional utilities in Mississippi and Indiana, accounting firms and a state lawyers' association, according to charges filed by the US Justice Department.

The defendants, named Mansour Ahmadi, Ahmad Khatibi and Amir Hossein Nikaein, are citizens of Iran who own or are employed by private technology companies in the country.

The Treasury Department also imposed sanctions on the three Iranians, as well as several other individuals and two organizations they said were part of Tehran's "malicious" cyber and ransomware activity.

“The government of Iran has created a safe haven where cybercriminals acting for personal gain flourish and defendants like these are able to hack and extort victims, including critical infrastructure providers,” said Matthew G. Olsen, the assistant attorney general of the Justice Department’s national security division.

The men remain at large in Iran, and prosecutors said they were highly unlikely to face trial in the United States. Officials said they hoped that by exposing the group, they might prevent future attacks.



Multiple Quakes Leave Casualties in Guatemala, Cause Landslides

Debris lays on the street after dozens of earthquakes and aftershocks were recorded in a matter of hours in Palin, Guatemala, early Wednesday, July 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)
Debris lays on the street after dozens of earthquakes and aftershocks were recorded in a matter of hours in Palin, Guatemala, early Wednesday, July 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)
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Multiple Quakes Leave Casualties in Guatemala, Cause Landslides

Debris lays on the street after dozens of earthquakes and aftershocks were recorded in a matter of hours in Palin, Guatemala, early Wednesday, July 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)
Debris lays on the street after dozens of earthquakes and aftershocks were recorded in a matter of hours in Palin, Guatemala, early Wednesday, July 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)

A series of dozens of earthquakes were recorded in the span of hours in Guatemala, leaving two dead when rocks fell on their vehicle, authorities said. Landslides left several others buried.

More than 37 earthquakes and aftershocks with magnitudes ranging from 3.0 to 5.6 were reported in Guatemala Tuesday afternoon, said Edwin Rodas, director of the National Institute for Seismology, Vulcanology, Meteorology and Hydrology.

The tremors resulted in the evacuation of buildings, landslides, and minor property damage, officials said, adding they were felt as far away as El Salvador.
The two men killed were traveling in a pickup truck on a local road in the department of Escuintla when the rocks fell from a hillside onto the vehicle, firefighters said, according to The Associated Press.

Guatemalan President Bernardo Arévalo said at a press conference Tuesday that the main epicenter of the quakes was in the department of Sacatepéquez, with aftershocks in the regions of Escuintla and Guatemala department.

At least five people were buried by landslides, but emergency responders were able to rescue two, he added.

The National Coordinator for Disaster Reduction declared an orange alert, the second-highest on the emergency scale.

The US Geological Survey reported a 4.8 magnitude earthquake at 3:11 p.m. local time, 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) southwest of the town of Amatitlán, south of Guatemala City, with a depth of 10 kilometers (6 miles). It then reported another 5.7 magnitude quake 3 kilometers (2 miles) northwest of San Vicente Pacaya, a municipality in Escuintla, in the south-central region of the country.

Another 4.8 magnitude quake was reported 6 kilometers (4 miles) northwest of Palín, also in Escuintla.