Ex-lawmaker urges action on Iran’s assets in Venezuela, citing Assad's fall

The document was signed by Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov at the end of their negotiations.

Lavrov said the consultations plan was drawn up following the entry into force of a comprehensive strategic partnership treaty between the two countries earlier this year.

“Without any doubt, the main and key document in our relations is the comprehensive strategic partnership treaty between the Russian Federation and the Islamic Republic of Iran, which was signed this year and has entered into force,” Lavrov offering no details on the consultations agreement.

He said the treaty formally set out the special nature of bilateral relations and established key areas of cooperation and a long-term, 20-year outlook.

'Treaty deepens long-term cooperation'

The comprehensive strategic partnership treaty, signed in January by Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and ratified by both countries’ parliaments, commits Moscow and Tehran to closer cooperation across political, economic, security and technological fields.

While it does not include a mutual defense clause, the agreement provides for expanded military-technical cooperation, coordination on security issues, closer economic ties and efforts to reduce the impact of Western sanctions, including through financial and trade mechanisms outside the dollar system.

Lavrov said the signing of the 2026-28 consultations plan marked a first in the history of ties between the two countries.

“Today, for the first time in history, we are signing a consultations program between the foreign ministries of Russia and Iran for the years 2026 to 2028,” he said, adding that dialogue between the two ministries was regular and highly valuable.

Broader coordination under sanctions

Both countries have stepped up coordination as they face extensive Western sanctions. They cooperate in forums such as BRICS, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the Eurasian Economic Union, and have expanded ties in energy, transport, trade, technology and space.

Iran and Russia say the strategic partnership treaty and the newly signed consultations plan provide a structured roadmap for advancing those ties over the coming decades.

Panahi’s film, It Was Just an Accident, was included among 15 shortlisted titles as France’s official submission. Films from 86 countries were eligible in the category, with Academy members required to view all shortlisted entries to take part in the nominations round.

The film was made secretly inside Iran and follows the moral dilemma of a group of former political prisoners who believe they have captured the man who once tortured them. The work draws directly on Panahi’s own experiences of detention and surveillance.

It Was Just an Accident won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year, further cementing Panahi’s standing as one of Iran’s most internationally recognized filmmakers despite long-standing restrictions on his work.

Legal pressure at home

Earlier this month, Panahi’s lawyer said the director had been sentenced in absentia to one year in prison on a charge of propaganda against the state. The ruling also included a two-year travel ban and restrictions on political and social activity. The sentence was issued while Panahi was abroad promoting the film.

Panahi has said he plans to return to Iran after completing the awards campaign, despite the risks. “I have only one passport, the passport of my country,” he said earlier this month.

Oscar nominations will be announced on Jan. 22, 2026. The awards ceremony is scheduled for March 15 in Los Angeles.

In a written response, Sweden’s foreign ministry said the embassy in Tehran and the ministry were in contact with the family and that the citizen had access to a lawyer, adding that no further details could be provided for consular reasons and to avoid disrupting the case.

Judiciary spokesperson Asghar Jahangir said on Tuesday that the case was examined in Alborz province and heard by the second branch of the Islamic Revolutionary Court, and that a verdict would be issued soon.

“Based on reports and the defendant’s own confessions, he was recruited by the Israeli intelligence services in 2023,” Jahangir told reporters. He said the defendant, identified only as a Swedish citizen since 2020, later traveled to six European capitals to receive espionage training, made several trips to Israel and entered Iran about a month before the recent war, staying in a villa near Karaj. Jahangir said electronic surveillance equipment was discovered during the conflict and that the defendant had confessed to spying for Israel.

Iranian officials say the arrest forms part of a broader picture of alleged espionage uncovered during and after the war. Authorities have said more than 700 people were detained on suspicion of spying or cooperating with Israel following the conflict, which lasted 12 days and included US air strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.

In November, the intelligence arm of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has said it dismantled what it described as US-Israeli spy networks inside Iran. Parliament has also approved emergency legislation allowing espionage suspects to be prosecuted under wartime legal provisions.

Executions and international concern

Iran has carried out several executions in recent months over espionage convictions tied to Israel. The judiciary has said those executed were convicted of offenses including “enmity against God” and collaboration with hostile states.

The UN special rapporteur on human rights in Iran and international rights groups say at least a dozen people have been executed on espionage charges this year, many after the war. Rights groups have raised concern about due process, while Iranian authorities say the judiciary is acting in line with domestic law to protect national security.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control said on Tuesday that the Omaha, Nebraska-based financial technology company agreed to the settlement to resolve potential civil liability for 254 apparent violations between October 2017 and January 2019, describing 12 of those cases as “egregious” and saying the conduct was not voluntarily self-disclosed.

Exodus offers a non-custodial digital asset wallet that allows users to store private keys and access third-party exchanges through its software, while generating revenue by collecting fees when customers transact through those exchange partners, OFAC said.

The regulator said Exodus’s customer service team responded to inquiries from users in Iran and enabled them to continue using the wallet or exchange services, even though the firm’s own terms of use prohibited use in US-embargoed jurisdictions.

OFAC said Exodus became aware in 2018 that at least one exchange partner was blocking Iran-based users to comply with US regulations, but staff nevertheless recommended VPNs that enabled some users to bypass location-based controls.

As part of the settlement, OFAC said Exodus agreed to invest $630,000 in additional sanctions compliance controls and cited broader remedial steps, including enhanced screening and staff training.

Iran has increasingly leaned on cryptocurrency rails to move money abroad as sanctions and banking restrictions complicate traditional transfers.

US Treasury actions in 2025 described “shadow” networks using overseas fronts and crypto transactions tied to Iranian oil revenue, portraying digital assets as one way to bypass chokepoints in the regulated financial system.

Iran’s domestic crypto ecosystem has also drawn attention from analysts and Western officials for potential sanctions-evasion uses, including allegations that some platforms help users access offshore liquidity or route funds beyond oversight.

A 2025 Reuters report on a major hack of Iran’s Nobitex said blockchain-analysis firms and US lawmakers have flagged the exchange as linked to sanction-bypassing activity, with researchers also pointing to past IRGC-linked use of crypto venues for cash-outs.

Binance has been cited in past reporting as being used by customers in Iran despite US sanctions, while large global exchanges face compliance and jurisdiction challenges when users route activity through workarounds or intermediaries.

Across Tehran and other major cities, advertising websites, job boards and even the walls outside hospitals are plastered with notices offering such services.

The role is not filled by relatives. Instead, patient companions are hired—often informally—to care for hospitalized patients, helping with eating, hygiene and mobility.

According to the head of Iran’s Nursing Organization, the country faces a shortfall of at least 100,000 nurses. The deficit appears to have created a parallel, low-wage labor market with little oversight and frequent abuse.

A nurse working at a hospital in Tehran told Iran International that the tasks assigned to patient companions often go far beyond what their wages suggest.

“They do work that no one would normally accept for this pay,” she said, requesting anonymity. “They care for patients who cannot go to the toilet or bathe on their own.”

Exploited

A search for “patient companion” (hamrah-e bimār) on Iran’s largest classifieds website, Divar, produces dozens of listings from across the country. The companies share a familiar pitch: assurances of experience, professionalism and official registration.

One company advertises an eight-hour shift for a mobile patient who does not require personal hygiene care at 800,000 tomans (about $6 at December 16 exchange rates). Many others list prices as “negotiable.”

Alongside these firms, individuals also advertise their services directly. Many claim to have first-aid training or nursing experience and say they are willing to travel nationwide.

Yet trust remains a major barrier.

“People don’t feel comfortable hiring individuals directly,” said another nurse in Tehran, who also asked not to be named. “So they turn to companies, even though the companies take most of the money.”

According to this nurse, nursing service firms often keep close to two-thirds of what families pay, leaving companions with little compensation despite the physical and emotional demands of the work.

No better option

To avoid company fees, some companions eventually try to secure work through hospital staff. After being introduced repeatedly by agencies, they ask nurses or aides to connect them directly with families in need.

The practice is most common in public hospitals, where staff shortages are most acute.

A doctor at a Tehran hospital told Iran International that families struggling to pay medical bills sometimes plead with doctors or nurses to help a relative find work as a patient companion. “It becomes a way to cover treatment costs,” he said.

A male nurse in Tehran described hiring a companion through an agency several years ago to care for his grandmother, who had cancer.

“She was a nursing student, working to support herself while studying,” he said. “She told us the companies demand large promissory notes from workers and then take two-thirds of the family’s payment.”

For many companions, the job is a temporary lifeline rather than a chosen profession.

Home-care assignments can carry additional risks, especially for women. Reports of assault or sexual harassment are not rare, the nurse added, but few are willing to come forward, fearing that agencies may move to cash promissory notes at the first sign of dispute—effectively blacklisting workers from future employment.

That lack of regulation cuts both ways. Families often prefer companies, believing them to be safer. But, as nurses acknowledge, the skills of agency-provided companions are far from guaranteed.

“Most companions are women, many of them heads of household,” one nurse in Tehran said. “Few have formal training. Most learn on the job from hospital staff. They do this because they have no other option.”