The Khomeiniist regime has once again set itself in opposition to international laws and norms by repeatedly refusing to ratify the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, also known as the Palermo Convention, and the UN Convention Combatting the Financing of Terrorism (CFT).
The regime’s figurehead president, Hassan Rouhani, originally submitted the two conventions for ratification by the Islamic Parliament (Majles) in November, 2017. The Majles approved both bills, but their approval was then nullified by the Guardian Council, a group of unelected clerics who have the authority to veto any law passed by elected officials of the regime.
On Friday, October 11th, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that if Iran were serious about fighting money laundering and financing terrorists, it would approve laws to make the country in par with international standards. He tweeted:
If #Iran were serious about combatting terror financing and adhering to global anti-money laundering and terrorism financing standards (#AMLCFT), it would ratify the #PalermoConvention and the Terrorist Financing Convention immediately.
— Secretary Pompeo (@SecPompeo) October 11, 2019
Now, on Monday, October 14th, the Expediency Discernment Council, another group of high-ranking clerics appointed by the Supreme Leader, Khamenei, to resolve disputes between differing organs within the regime, has rejected the two treaties.
A member of the Expediency Council, Gholam-Reza Mesbahi-Moghaddam, stated in an interview that the treaties were rejected because “Palermo and CFT will help the United States to identify the ways we circumvent the sanctions. We will not tighten sanctions by our own hands.” He further added “We are managing the country through circumventing the sanctions. Approval of these two bills is not wise.”
Approving these two conventions, agreed to by every nation in the world except Iran and North Korea, is a key condition imposed on Tehran by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). As an international body concerned with stopping money laundering and terrorism, without membership in the FATF, Iran would be severely hampered in conducting business with European companies.
Commenting on the Expediency Council’s decision, Abdol-Reza Hashemzai, a reformist MP said “Under U.S. sanctions imposed on Iran, the Chinese companies have already stopped dealing with us, even, friendly countries, such as Russia and China will stop dealing with Iran if the Palermo bills are not passed by Expediency Council.”
In June, the FATF had granted Iran another extension, until December, to approve the two bills. If they aren’t ratified by then, the FATF stated that they “will require introducing enhanced relevant reporting mechanisms or systematic reporting of financial transactions; and increased external audit requirements for financial groups with respect to any of their branches and subsidiaries located in Iran.”
Since the US re-imposed sanctions on Iran last year, the regime has tried, without success, to preserve its multi-billion-dollar trade deals with the European Union and other countries.
Source » thefreeiranian