Iran Approves Final FATF Recommendation, Moves to Join UN Terrorism Financing Convention

Iran has approved the last of 40 recommendations issued by the global financial crime watchdog, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), a key step toward joining a United Nations convention on terrorism financing and securing its removal from the FATF blacklist.

Members of Iran’s Expediency Council on Wednesday voted in favor of efforts by the country’s administrative government to accede to the 1999 UN Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism (CFT). The vote followed extensive discussions within the Council, which includes more than 40 politicians, former officials, and senior clerics and is tasked with resolving disputes between the Iranian parliament and the Guardian Council. While the parliament had endorsed the CFT, the Guardian Council had previously rejected it.

Council spokesman Mohsen Dehnavi said in a post on the X platform that the Council had approved the CFT “with the reservation that Iran would implement the measure within the limits of its constitution and domestic laws.”

The FATF, an international coalition headquartered in Paris that combats money laundering and terrorist financing, blacklisted Iran in 2020 primarily because the country had not adopted the CFT and the UN Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime, also known as the Palermo Convention. Iran’s Expediency Council approved the Palermo Convention in May, following a halt in debates over the conventions several years ago due to concerns they might undermine the country’s financial independence. However, Iranian Finance Ministry officials have repeatedly stressed that the FATF would only begin reconsidering its designation once Iran formally approves the CFT.

Iran’s push to be removed from the FATF blacklist comes just days after the country was subjected to new UN sanctions for allegedly failing to comply with the 2015 nuclear deal, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). The sanctions followed actions by Britain, France, and Germany, three signatories to the JCPOA, who triggered a clause allowing the reinstatement of six UN Security Council resolutions originally adopted between 2006 and 2010.

In addition, Iran continues to face a stringent sanctions regime imposed by the United States since 2018, following Washington’s withdrawal from the JCPOA. Economic experts argue that Iran’s removal from the FATF blacklist will be crucial if the country hopes to maintain normal trade and business relations with nations that do not recognize UN or U.S. sanctions against Tehran.

By fLEXI tEAM