The U.S. announced “a reward for up to $15m for information leading to the disruption of the financial mechanisms of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and its branches”. The U.S. Special Representative for Iran, Brian Hook, noted that “it’s the first time that the U.S. has offered a reward for information that disrupts a government entity’s financial operations. We have taken this step because the IRGC operates more like a terrorist organisation than it does a government”. Iran’s diplomatic spokesperson on 5 September hit back saying that “the surge in hostile comments and desperate measures, the most ridiculous one of which was putting up [a] reward for treason and espionage, are measures out of desperation and disappointment for targeting the Iranian nation… such measures will get nowhere as usual”.