Iran’s problem with FATF needs to be resolved – President

Photo: Masoud Pezeshkian / X

BAKU, Azerbaijan, September 16. Iran has no choice but to solve the problem with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), and it must do so, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said at the first press conference held today in Tehran with the participation of local and foreign journalists, Trend reports.

According to him, certain works will be launched in the country and FATF conventions will be adopted in Iran.

“One of the main problems of many production centers in the country is the disapproval of FATF conventions. FATF is important both for investors’ interest in the country and for developing economic relations with neighboring countries,” he said.

The FATF of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development is an intergovernmental body for regulating rules against money laundering and terrorist financing. At the last meeting of this body, Iran was warned that if Iran’s program of steps does not improve, Iran could be added to the list of non-cooperative countries. Iran has complied with 37 of the 41 FATF steps.

The remaining four steps or conventions fall under the area of legislation. “Amendments to the Law on Combating Money Laundering”, ‘Amendments to the Law on Combating the Financing of Terrorism’, ”Accession to the International Convention on Combating Transnational Organized Crime (Palermo), and Accession to the International Convention on Combating the Financing of Terrorism (CFT) have been drafted by the Iranian government and sent to the parliament. Although four conventions have been approved by the parliament and sent to the Advisory Council, the CFT conventions and the Palermo Convention have not yet been approved by the mentioned council.

FATF was established in 1989 on the initiative of the G7 group to combat money laundering. The organization has 37 members and its secretariat is located in Paris.

Iran has been on the FATF blacklist since 2007, and since 2009, retaliatory measures have been officially applied against Tehran. Thus, countries had to be careful in their financial and banking transactions with Iran. Since 2016, the implementation of diplomatic measures against Iran has been postponed.

To note, the financial group FATF added Iran to the list of non-cooperative countries (blacklist) on February 21, 2020.