Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept. 17
By Farhad Daneshvar – Trend:
Iran’s Supreme National Security Council has passed a bill authorizing the government to join the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), Mehr news agency reported Sept. 17.
The council, however, has attached five conditions to the bill, an informed source told Mehr.
Although the report did not elaborate on the conditions set out by the national security council, it further added that the bill, before coming into force, needs to be approved by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The FATF is a global standard setting body for anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT).
It appears that Iran’s banking system needs to cooperate with the FATF in order to reintegrate into the global financial system following the January implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA, aka nuclear deal).
Conservative opponents of moderate President Hassan Rouhani’s government over the past several weeks have harshly criticized the administration for its cooperation with the FATF, suggesting that cooperation with the FATF would lead to imposing restrictions on the activity of several domestic entities and organizations.