Former Iran International TV journalist Kourosh Sehati has become the first known Iranian to join Ukraine’s Foreign Legion, trading his broadcasting career for frontline combat against Russian forces, RFE/RL reports. A rights activist who was arrested multiple times for his political activities in Iran, Sehati fled Iran to Türkiye in 2004. He was granted political refugee status before moving to the United States.
The 46-year-old, who previously worked for Voice of America’s Persian Service and holds US citizenship, announced his decision to enlist on 18 March, stating on X that he had joined to “fight the criminal Putin and his backers.“
In an interview with RFE/RL’s Radio Farda, Sehati explained he was defending Ukraine against what he called “the club of dictators and invaders,” referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin and his key allies, including Iran’s clerical rulers, Belarusian leader Aleksandr Lukashenko, North Korea, and China.
His decision was also deeply personal. “I have an attachment to Ukraine because my wife is Ukrainian and our kids are half Ukrainian,” Sehati told Radio Farda, adding that his family lives in London.
Historical grievances
Sehati’s opposition to Moscow extends beyond the current war, rooted in what he describes as Iran’s historical grievances against Russia.
“Russia has hurt Iran a lot over the last 200 years,” Sehati said in the interview.
Persia and tsarist Russia fought multiple wars in the 19th century, resulting in Tehran ceding much of the Caucasus to Moscow. The Russian Empire also competed for control of Iran’s natural resources and occupied Iranian territory.
These tensions continued into the mid-1940s when the Soviet Union supported short-lived ethnic Kurdish and Azeri republics in northwestern Iran. Although quickly dismantled, these republics contributed to ethnic tensions that remain today.
Sehati said one of his key motivations for enlisting was to change how Ukrainians view Iranians.
“I’m trying to send a message of solidarity between Iranians and Ukrainians so that Ukrainians don’t associate Iranians with the Islamic republic’s actions,” he explained to Radio Farda.
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