Trump Allegedly Attempted to Bribe IRGC Leadership to Defect

President Donald Trump allegedly attempted to bribe General Ahmad Vahidi, the Commander-in-Chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and other senior Iranian military leaders to defect from the government in Tehran. The operation reportedly offered billions of dollars in financial inducements to fracture the Iranian state, utilizing a strategy previously employed in Venezuela to isolate central command and facilitate regime decapitation.

The Trump administration established a communication channel to Vahidi in May 2026. This conduit was facilitated by Nechirvan Barzani, the President of the Kurdistan Region in Iraq, with authorization from Vice-President JD Vance and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard.

The attempt failed after General Vahidi rejected the offers. These claims, which surfaced via a source close to Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, have not been independently confirmed in public.