ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Iran has been given more time to reform its anti-money laundering and terror financing laws to bring it up to international norms, a move Tehran welcomed as a victory over US President Donald Trump.
Noting that Tehran has made progress passing required legislation, on Friday the global watchdog Financial Action Task Force (FATF) decided to extend a waiver of punitive measures, giving the Islamic Republic until February 2019 to fully enact several key laws.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry hailed the decision as evidence that the FATF members “were not influenced by the political pressure of the US” and its allies. The United States currently holds the presidency of the FATF.
Iran is bracing itself for another round of US sanctions, scheduled to come into force in early November and targeting the oil sector. The US considers Iran the leading state sponsor of terrorism and accuses the country of fueling destabilizing conflicts in the Middle East.
The FATF did not have a glowing report for Iran’s reform efforts, however.
The Iranian parliament passed a bill earlier this month that would sign the country onto the convention for countering terror financing. All legislation passed in the legislature must be approved by the Guardian Council and the Expediency Council before becoming law.
Several other pieces of legislation are still pending.
FATF said it was “disappointed” that the majority of the plan set out for Iran was still not completed and called for Tehran to speed up its reforms.
The body outlined nine areas Iran still needs to address, including “adequately criminalizing terrorist financing” and “identifying and freezing terrorist assets.”
If Iran fails to complete the necessary reforms by February 2019, the FATF said it would take action to protect the global financial system from the terror-financing risks emanating from Iran.
Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Bahram Qassemi took objection to the FATF’s comments, saying “most of the technical measures requested under Iran’s action plan have been completely implemented and the remaining will go into effect after legal process related to the three [parliamentary] bills are completed.”
Noting that Tehran has made progress passing required legislation, on Friday the global watchdog Financial Action Task Force (FATF) decided to extend a waiver of punitive measures, giving the Islamic Republic until February 2019 to fully enact several key laws.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry hailed the decision as evidence that the FATF members “were not influenced by the political pressure of the US” and its allies. The United States currently holds the presidency of the FATF.
Iran is bracing itself for another round of US sanctions, scheduled to come into force in early November and targeting the oil sector. The US considers Iran the leading state sponsor of terrorism and accuses the country of fueling destabilizing conflicts in the Middle East.
The FATF did not have a glowing report for Iran’s reform efforts, however.
The Iranian parliament passed a bill earlier this month that would sign the country onto the convention for countering terror financing. All legislation passed in the legislature must be approved by the Guardian Council and the Expediency Council before becoming law.
Several other pieces of legislation are still pending.
FATF said it was “disappointed” that the majority of the plan set out for Iran was still not completed and called for Tehran to speed up its reforms.
The body outlined nine areas Iran still needs to address, including “adequately criminalizing terrorist financing” and “identifying and freezing terrorist assets.”
If Iran fails to complete the necessary reforms by February 2019, the FATF said it would take action to protect the global financial system from the terror-financing risks emanating from Iran.
Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Bahram Qassemi took objection to the FATF’s comments, saying “most of the technical measures requested under Iran’s action plan have been completely implemented and the remaining will go into effect after legal process related to the three [parliamentary] bills are completed.”
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