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Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen called Iranian state television’s decision to blur her legs during a broadcast of her UN meeting with Iran’s foreign minister a “sad” reflection of women’s treatment in the country.
“My Swedish colleague sent me the video on Friday. My first reaction was that it was amusing. But I immediately added, 'sad too’,” Valtonen told Helsingin Sanomat, Finland’s largest daily newspaper.
She added that she does not change her clothing based on who she is meeting and avoids events that require covering the face or hair.
Valtonen said she raises women’s rights in every meeting with Iranian officials, including this week’s talks.
Iranian state television blurred Valtonen’s legs in a news broadcast of her meeting with Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Tuesday on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York.
Sweden’s Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard’s legs were also blurred in the same broadcast. The footage was widely shared on social media, including by Iranian women's rights activist and journalist Masih Alinejad.
Finland’s National Coalition Party, which Valtonen represents, also reacted on Instagram, calling the incident “a sad example of the trampling of women’s rights.”
"This is a reminder of how women around the world are still controlled and erased from visibility. Every woman has the absolute right to be seen, heard, and live freely," the party wrote on a post on Instagram.
"The National Coalition Party stands firmly for women’s rights — both in Finland and globally," it added.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy welcomed the UN Security Council’s decision to reimpose sanctions on Iran.
“Tehran has long ignored calls from the IAEA and the international community, undermining the nuclear order,” Zelenskyy said on X.
He compared Iran’s actions to Russia’s seizure of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, warning that both pose serious threats to nuclear security.
“Reckless regimes that ignore basic international law norms and pursue ambitions that endanger nuclear security must face a united and strong international response,” Zelenskyy added.
Iran's economic isolation would further intensify, stoking public fury, without a breakthrough in talks with the West over its nuclear program, Reuters reported citing four Iranian officials and two insiders.
They said agreeing to the West’s demands could create divisions within the ruling elite and undermine the Islamic Republic’s core principle of resisting Western pressure, a key element of Tehran’s defiant posture.
"The clerical establishment is trapped between a rock and a hard place. The existence of the Islamic Republic is in peril," Reuters reported citing an Iranian official as saying.
"Our people cannot handle more economic pressure or another war," the source added.
Iranian lawmakers have prepared 15 proposals for withdrawing from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, the parliament's Foreign Policy and National Security Committee spokesman said on Sunday.
“The National Security Committee has drafted a comprehensive plan on the issue that may also be discussed in parliament,” Ebrahim Rezaei told the Tehran-based outlet Didban Iran.
He added that the Cairo agreement with the IAEA will not be implemented and said, “The activation of the snapback mechanism is a unique opportunity to develop Iran’s nuclear industry.”
A senior adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader said Tehran should consider joining a new Saudi-Pakistani defense pact while vowing to strengthen its offensive military power after the recent 12-day war with Israel and the United States.
Major General Yahya Rahim Safavi told state television on Saturday night that the agreement between Riyadh and Islamabad was positive and proposed Iran, Iraq and others also take part.
“Iran, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Iraq can reach a collective defense pact,” he said, while acknowledging that US influence over Riyadh and Islamabad may limit such moves.
Earlier in September, Saudi Arabia and nuclear-armed Pakistan signed a mutual defense pact in Riyadh, bolstering their decades-old security partnership a week after Israel’s strikes on Qatar. Riyadh insisted the deal was not a response to specific events but the culmination of years of talks.
The agreement, described by a senior Saudi official as a “comprehensive defensive agreement that encompasses all military means,” says that aggression against either country will be considered an attack on both.
Pakistan, the only Muslim-majority nuclear power, has long stationed troops in the kingdom and provides technical and operational support to its military.
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman signed the pact alongside Pakistan’s powerful army chief Asim Munir.
Elsewhere in his remarks, Safavi said Iran launched more than 500 long-range missiles during the June conflict but admitted weaknesses in air defense and intelligence.
“Foreign assessments show 60% believe Iran won, because Israel did not achieve its objectives,” he said, without mentioning any source.
He added Iran was rebuilding damaged radar and missile systems and would “certainly increase” its offensive capabilities.
“The enemy could not tolerate us striking Haifa’s refinery and power plants,” Safavi said, adding that Iranian missiles destroyed advanced Israeli sites and pilots.
Safavi warned the conflict was “not fully over” and called for strengthening diplomacy, media, and military readiness. “We must continue the path of power-building. Offensive power is not only in air and space but in all domains,” he said.
