Pezeshkian blasts 'illegal' Israeli attacks in June war

"Russia's trying to do to Moldova what Iran once did to Lebanon and the global response again, (is) not enough," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told the UN General Assembly in New York on Wednesday.

A former Iranian lawmaker threatened to reopen drug transit routes to Europe if UN sanctions are reimposed on Tehran under the snapback mechanism.

“We mistakenly closed the drug transit route toward Europe and stopped the flood of drugs heading to them. If the snapback mechanism is implemented, we can reopen the drug transit route to Europe, and then you will see that the West will be in trouble,” Iraj Nadimi said.

Iranian lawmakers on Wednesday downplayed US restrictions on President Masoud Pezeshkian’s delegation in New York, with one calling them “a joke” and another saying they exposed President Donald Trump’s weakness.

Hassanali Akhlaghi Amiri, a lawmaker from Mashhad, said Iranian officials “have no need to buy goods from America” and described the measures as laughable.

Javad Hosseini-Kia, deputy head of parliament’s industry committee, said the restriction underscored Trump’s “weakness against Iran” and said Tehran would use forums like the UN General Assembly to push for greater unity among Muslim nations, including ideas for a shared “Islamic NATO and currency.”

Russia and Iran signed a memorandum of understanding on Wednesday to build small nuclear power plants in Iran, Russian state nuclear firm Rosatom said, deepening cooperation as Western powers move to reimpose sanctions on Tehran.

The agreement, described by Rosatom as a “strategic project,” was signed in Moscow by Rosatom chief Alexei Likhachev and Iran’s atomic energy chief Mohammad Eslami, who is also a vice president.

Eslami said earlier this week the plan envisions eight reactors as part of Tehran’s goal to expand nuclear capacity to 20 gigawatts by 2040. Four are slated for Bushehr, where Russia built Iran’s only operating reactor, with a capacity of about 1 GW.

Iran faces recurring electricity shortages.

Iran’s government has drawn up “the most pessimistic scenarios” to prepare for the activation of the United Nations snapback sanctions mechanism, government spokeswoman Fatemeh Mohajerani said on Wednesday.

“The government is optimistic, but we have designed the most pessimistic scenarios for this issue,” Mohajerani told reporters.

She added that while Tehran would not forgo diplomatic opportunities, “if they want to act with bullying, that is not dialogue.”