The United States Thursday announced it was establishing a reward of up to $10 million for information leading to Yasin al-Suri, who it accused of operating from Iran as a facilitator and financier for al Qaeda. The bounty is the first offered for an al Qaeda financier and is aimed at disrupting a financial network that has operated from within Iran's borders since 2005, said Eytan Fisch, a senior Treasury Department official.
Robert Hartung, a senior State Department official, said that under an agreement between al Qaeda and the government of Iran, al-Suri had helped move money and recruits through Iran to al Qaeda leaders in neighbouring countries. Hartung said al-Suri, who is originally from Syria, also was known as Ezedin Abdel Aziz Khalil. The US Treasury Department in July blacklisted al-Suri and five other members of his network, exposing what the United States says are direct links between Tehran and the al Qaeda network.