The Farda Briefing

Welcome back to The Farda Briefing, an RFE/RL newsletter that tracks the key issues in Iran and explains why they matter.

I'm RFE/RL correspondent Kian Sharifi. In this edition, I explore the significance of a criminal complaint filed against Iran in Argentina for its brutal crackdown on the 2022 protests. I will also touch on why Iranians are upset with China and the state of Iran's national currency.

What You Need To Know

• In Pursuit Of Accountability: For the first time, victims of Iran’s Woman, Life, Freedom protests have filed a criminal complaint against 40 officials of the Islamic republic, accusing them of crimes against humanity. It’s a bold move, and one that takes the fight for accountability thousands of kilometers away, all the way to Argentina.

• China Angers Iran By Backing UAE Islands Claim: China has angered Tehran by again siding with the United Arab Emirates in a decades-old dispute over three strategic islands near the Strait of Hormuz. A joint statement during Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s visit to Abu Dhabi backed the United Arab Emirates' (UAE) push for a “peaceful solution,” without mentioning Iran. Iranian officials criticized the UAE but avoided direct attacks on Beijing, leaving hard-line media to accuse China of hypocrisy over its own Taiwan stance.

• Rial Hits Another Record Low: Iran’s currency is in free fall again. The rial slid past 1.3 million to the dollar this week -- its weakest level ever and just days after breaking the 1.2 million mark. The drop, fueled by sanctions and mounting regional tensions, is driving up prices for food and everyday goods. For many Iranians, already coping with soaring living costs, a recent gas price hike is making things even tougher.

The Big Issue

Justice Crosses Borders

The criminal complaint against 40 officials of the Islamic republic was submitted with help from the Iran Human Rights Documentation Center and the Strategic Litigation Project at the Atlantic Council. They chose Argentina because its courts recognize something called universal jurisdiction -- basically, the idea that some crimes are so serious, any country’s court can investigate them, no matter where they happened.

The complaint asks Argentinian judges to look into the role of senior intelligence, security, and military officials, including the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), in what it describes as a widespread and coordinated assault on civilians during the 2022 protests that followed the death of Mahsa Amini. Amini died in police custody after being detained for allegedly flaunting Iran’s dress code for women.

For now, the list of accused names is sealed, but Shahin Milani from the Human Rights Documentation Center told RFE/RL’s Radio Farda that those details will be released once Argentina’s prosecutor officially opens the investigation.

The accusations include targeted shootings, intentional blinding of protesters, arbitrary arrests, torture, and even executions -- abuses that, as the complaint notes, “are still continuing today.”

In a 2024 report, Sara Hossain, who leads the UN’s Independent Fact-Finding Committee on Iran, said the government was directly responsible for the violence that led to Mahsa Amini’s death. The committee went further, calling Iran’s broader actions against women “crimes against humanity.” Iran has accused the committee of bias.

Why It Matters: Argentina’s judiciary has a long record of pursuing international justice cases. Its courts have invoked universal jurisdiction in dozens of human rights trials over the past decade and are currently handling cases from 16 countries.

Notably, Argentina is also familiar with Iran-related cases: earlier this year, an Argentinian judge ordered in absentia trials for seven Iranian and three Lebanese suspects over the 1994 AMIA bombing in Buenos Aires, which killed 85 people.

What's Being Said: The plaintiffs see Argentina as a natural venue. As Milani noted, “this is a judiciary that knows Iran’s track record.”

Mahsa Piraei, one of the plaintiffs in the case and a UK resident, lost her 62‑year‑old mother, Minoo Majidi, in the early days of the protests. Her mother was shot dead by security forces.

“We couldn’t pursue a case in Iran because there’s no fair court or independent judiciary,” she wrote on X, adding that she was glad they had managed to bring their complaint before an Argentinian court.

That's all from me for now.

Until next time,

Kian Sharifi

If you enjoyed this briefing and don't want to miss the next edition, subscribe here. It will be sent to your inbox every Friday.

Welcome back to The Farda Briefing, an RFE/RL newsletter that tracks the key issues in Iran and explains why they matter.

I'm RFE/RL correspondent Kian Sharifi. In this edition, I'm looking at a mysterious recruitment flyer that appeared near Russia's embassy in Tehran, offering Iranians cash to fight in Ukraine. Is it real, a scam, or something else entirely?

What You Need To Know

• A Shadow Job Ad: A strange recruitment flyer appeared near the Russian Embassy in central Tehran this week, promising Iranians tens of thousands of dollars to join Moscow's war in Ukraine. The offer sits in a gray zone between plausible and absurd, and that ambiguity is why's it worth watching.

• Lawyer Death Triggers Calls For UN Investigation: The December 5 death of Khosrow Alikordi, an attorney known for representing political prisoners, has prompted Iranian human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh to call for a UN fact-finding committee to investigate the case. She told RFE/RL's Radio Farda that "there are ample ground to doubt" the coroner's report, which listed his cause of death as a heart attack.

• US Seizes Iran-Linked Tanker Off Venezuela: The United States this week seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela that had been under Treasury Department sanctions since 2022 for allegedly helping smuggle Iranian oil as part of a network led by Ukrainian national Viktor Artemov. Analyst Dalga Khatinoglu said the seizure undermines Iran's "shadow fleet" and deals a financial blow to the IRGC, which exports about a third of Iran's oil.

The Big Issue

$20,000 And A Contract

The ad bears a black‑and‑white Russian coat of arms and claims to represent Russia's Defense Ministry. It targets Iranian men aged 18–45, and women only if they have medical training. The flyer promises a $20,000 signing bonus and around $2,000 in monthly pay, plus housing and language classes, while noting an unspecified commission will be deducted from the first salary.

The contact details are anything but official: a WhatsApp number registered in Armenia, a Gmail address, and a Telegram channel. The positions listed range from assault troops and drone operators to drivers and support roles.

On December 9, the Russian Embassy in Tehran publicly disowned the flyer, calling it the work of "opportunistic individuals" and stressing that no Russian state body is involved. The embassy went further, branding the document -- and any similar letters -- as fake and "criminal" in nature.

But that doesn't quite settle it. Russia has repeatedly relied on deniable, semiofficial, and outright clandestine channels to recruit fighters abroad, and the structure of the offer in Tehran broadly mirrors those seen elsewhere: quick cash, foreign adventure, and a vague promise of status and residency.

RFE/RL's Radio Farda contacted the person behind the Armenian WhatsApp number. They insisted the ad was "official" and claimed it had been coordinated with Iranian authorities, but offered no evidence. Tehran, for its part, has kept quiet; Iranian officials have yet to comment publicly.

Why It Matters: Whatever the status of the Tehran ad, it surfaces against the backdrop of an aggressive Russian push to bring in foreign fighters. Ukrainian officials say Moscow has recruited at least 18,000 foreign nationals from 128 countries, while more than 11,000 North Koreans are reportedly serving in Ukraine under a military cooperation agreement with Pyongyang.

Russia's shopping list for manpower now spans Cuba, Syria, Central Asia, Nepal, India, Kenya, Jordan, and beyond. The methods range from promises of fast money and passports to thinly veiled coercion, including pressure on migrant workers inside Russia who face the loss of residency or citizenship if they refuse to sign up.

This foreign recruitment drive allows the Kremlin to delay or dilute another mobilization at home. The September 2022 draft triggered a rush for the borders and deepened public unease. Since then, Moscow has clearly preferred checkbook incentives and expendable foreign labor over politically risky domestic conscription.

Western intelligence estimates suggest Russia has suffered more than 1 million casualties, including about 250,000 killed, since the full‑scale invasion began in February 2022.

What's Being Said: John Hardie, deputy director of the Russia program at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies in Washington, told Radio Farda he cannot verify whether the Tehran flyer is genuine, but it fits within a broader pattern. Russia, he noted, has built up a track record of recruiting foreign nationals from poorer countries to fight in Ukraine, often targeting men with limited economic prospects.

At the same time, Hardie pointed out that the design and wording of the Tehran brochure do not fully match Russia's usual recruitment materials. That inconsistency is one reason some analysts suspect either a sloppy local operation, a scam piggybacking on Russia's war, or some form of low‑cost intelligence fishing.

Nicole Grajewski of the Washington, D.C.-based Carnegie Endowment voiced similar doubts, arguing that if Moscow truly wanted to tap Iran as a manpower pool, a more likely pathway would be coordination with the Iranian state.

If the advertisement is authentic, however, it would be the first known attempt to openly recruit Iranian citizens into the Russian military, following earlier efforts in Central Asian states and Cuba.

That's all from me for now.

Until next time,

Kian Sharifi