Exiled prince hails UN sanctions as ‘long overdue,’ urges tougher action

“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.

Hardline Iranian lawmaker Mehdi Koochakzadeh said parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf blocked a proposal to discuss Tehran's withdrawal from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty during a closed session on Sunday.

Lawmakers had earlier said the decision to exit NPT must be first made by the Supreme National Security Council.

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.

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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.”