Delay in FATF conventions approval cost Iran dearly: Official
Head of Iran’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) Hadi Khani said that a 10-year delay in approval of Iran’s accession to the anti-money laundering and terrorism financing conventions adopted by The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has incurred heavy losses on the country.
On May 14, Iran’s Expediency Council conditionally approved the United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime also called the Palermo Convention, which is one of the conventions needed to be approved by Iran if it wants to get off the FATF’s blacklist.
Khani said the Expediency Council will also discuss the Combating Financing of Terrorism (CFT) convention.
The Financial Action Task Force, an international coalition for combating money laundering and terrorist financing which is headquartered in Paris, has blacklisted Iran since 2020 mainly because it has failed to adopt the two conventions.
The council stopped debates on the two conventions several years ago, fearing that accepting them may undermine Iran’s financial independence.
However, Leader of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamanei allowed a renewed discussion of the conventions in December last year upon a request from Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian.
Since 2009, when Iran began preliminary steps to join FATF, its economy has endured 16 turbulent years. Even at the height of oil and banking sanctions due to non-membership, Iran incurred significant costs in financial, banking, and trade transactions.
The Eurasian bloc has also welcomed Iran's ratification of the Palermo Convention, describing it as an indication of Iran's determination to fulfill its obligations at the international level.
Khani said that Iran’s failure to approve the two conventions has paved the way for the country’s enemies to spread propaganda against Iran.
He noted that FATF has repeatedly said that if Iran approves the two conventions, it is possible to ease countermeasures against Iran. Khani added that ratifying the two conventions will facilitate Iran’s exit of the FATF's list of high-risk countries.