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Iran needs to accept FATF-related bills to secure EU help in nuclear deal: official

Politics Materials 20 May 2018 14:04 (UTC +04:00)
An Iranian MP said that the country’s top diplomats believe that the EU stay in Iran following the US withdrawal from the nuclear deal depends on the Islamic Republic’s accession to the International Convention for the Suppression of Financing of Terrorism.
Iran needs to accept FATF-related bills to secure EU help in nuclear deal: official

Baku, Azerbaijan, May 20

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An Iranian MP said that the country’s top diplomats believe that the EU stay in Iran following the US withdrawal from the nuclear deal depends on the Islamic Republic’s accession to the International Convention for the Suppression of Financing of Terrorism.

The bill of "Accession of the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the International Convention for the Suppression of Financing of Terrorism", which was proposed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and approved by the Cabinet in Oct. 2017, was presented to the Parliament May 20 to take its relevant legislative procedures.

The closed session was attended by Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, Deputy FM Abbas Araghchi, Minister of Economy Masoud Karbasian, and a number of other MPs at the two ministries.

Iranian MP Ahmad Alireza Beiygi told Mehr news agency that Araghchi said during the session that the EU’s help depends on accepting the Financial Action Task Force (FATF)-related bill by Iran.

Araghchi believes that the EU wants to help and prepare situations for the European small and medium sized companies to stay in Iran.

So Tehran tries to create suitable political and legal atmosphere for these countries to continue their projects in the Islamic Republic, Alireza Beygi said.

He further citied Araqchi as saying that it is unclear how much European countries can bear the costs to advance their will to stay in Iran’s market, given their $450 billion worth of trade with US in comparison with $15 billion trade with the Islamic Republic.

The top Iranian diplomat believes that Islamic Republic’s accession to the International Convention for the Suppression of Financing of Terrorism is necessary, in order to continue negotiations with the EU, which faces a “very difficult situation,” the MP said.

The parliament has been reviewing three FATF-related bills, including the bill on amendment to the Anti-Money Laundering Law, the bill on amendment to the Law of Combating the Financing of Terrorism, and the bill of ‘Accession of the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the International Convention for the Suppression of Financing of Terrorism’.

Another MP Jabbar Kouchakinejad told Mehr that Zarif could not convince lawmakers about Iran’s accession to the third bill.

He added that Ali Shamkhani, Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council (SNSC), said FATF was not relevant to the accession bill and that Iran has no plans of approving it.

“Shamkhani said FATF has been put off Iran’s agenda, and we have plans to make amendments to our own domestic laws in a bid to facilitate relations with foreign banks,” he said.

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