FATF reviewing Iran’s call for suspension of US, Israel membership: Deputy minister
Iran’s deputy economy minister said the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) had agreed to consider the Islamic Republic’s formal appeal, submitted by Iran’s Financial Intelligence Unit, urging action against the US and Israeli regime for systematic violations of international counter-terrorism financing treaties.
Hadi Khani, secretary of the Supreme Council for Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT), reported on the FATF president's response to the official letter from the Financial Intelligence Unit and stated, “Following the unfair attacks by the Zionist regime and the United States against Iran, we formally requested the FATF president to take a stance against these two principal FATF members due to their clear violation of international treaties and United Nations resolutions,” IRNA reported.
Khani noted that since Iran is unfortunately not a member of any FATF regional groups, the country has sent a copy of the request to BRICS member countries for their support.
He added that despite Iran’s non-membership in FATF regional groups, and the lack of formal networking and team-building opportunities with friendly and aligned member countries due to Iran’s inclusion on the high-risk money laundering and terrorist financing jurisdictions list — the FATF president announced in response to the Financial Intelligence Unit’s official request that “the Islamic Republic of Iran’s appeal will be considered.”
The deputy economy minister emphasized that building international consensus and establishing regional/global networks to safeguard national security, economic interests, and sovereignty — through membership in regional and international bodies and the adoption of universal standards — constitutes a fundamental principle for managing transnational challenges, particularly countering terrorist financing.
“The events and lessons from the 12-day Israeli imposed war have tangibly demonstrated the support extended by most regional countries and members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), BRICS, ECO, and similar groups toward our nation, alongside their condemnation of aggressions,” he said.
“These developments have also underscored the imperative of activating official platforms in international and regional forums as prerequisites for coalition-building to align other nations with our national interests, while simultaneously highlighting the critical need to complete infrastructure for monitoring suspicious financial transactions and tracking funds of illicit origin.”
While noting that all FATF standards have been incorporated into Iran’s anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing (AML/CFT) laws and regulations and are currently being implemented, Khani called for expediting “the decision to upgrade Iran’s membership status in the Eurasian Group on Combating Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism (EAG) from observer to full member."