Analysis by PMOI/MEK
March 1, 2019 – The Financial Action Task Force, the world’s de facto standards body on money laundering and combatting the financing of terrorism, issued a stark warning to the Iranian regime last week.
“If by June 2019, Iran does not enact the remaining legislation in line with FATF Standards, then the FATF will require increased supervisory examination for branches and subsidiaries of financial institutions based in Iran. The FATF also expects Iran to continue to progress with enabling regulations and other amendments,” FATF’s public statement from February 22 reads.
And so, the already controversial remaining FATF bills have entered new levels of inner quarrels between the ruling elite.
Behzad Nabavi, former deputy speaker of the Majlis (parliament) and one of the iconic figures of the so-called reformist camp, warns rival conservatives about the consequences of not passing the FATF bills into law and says: “Not passing FATF will bring the establishment to its knees…Opponents imagine that by opposing and obstructing they’ll bring Rouhani’s government to its knees but the eventual result is bringing the country to its knees.”
On the other hand, Vatan-e Emrooz newspaper described the FATF bills as a noose around the Iranian regime’s neck and writes: “One of the most important questions that the establishement’s trustees in the Expediency Council asked Zarif is something like this: ‘After approving the Palermo and CFT bills and the complete supervision of foreign institutions like the Treasury of the United States on the financial and monetary flow of the country, won’t the pathways to circumvent the sanctions become blocked? And won’t Iran’s hands be completely tied up to circumvent the sanctions?’”
“Until now, Zarif hasn’t been able to give a convincing answer to this important question. The only thing that Zarif has said in defense of approving Palermo and CFT in every Expediency Council session was based on the idea that in order to prevent the situation from deteriorating, the bills need to be approved,” the newspaper further writes.
Hassan Ghazizadeh Hashemi, member of the parliament, accused the government of trying to blame others for its failures: “The government tries to connect the difficulties in livelihoods to not approving the FATF bills. The government needs to first accept the responsibility for the results of implementing the JCPOA and then threaten [others] about the consequences of not accepting CFT and Palermo.”
Mehdi Motaharnia, an Iranian political analyst close to Rouhani’s faction, complains about the end of the West’s appeasement policy toward Iran and says: “Not using the opportunity of FATF will pave the way for ending the appeasement of Iran by the international community.”
“Continuing these discussions in a mood of blaming both sides for the consequences of approving or not approving the FATF can put the Iranian society in a more antagonistic mood of decision making and reveal different aspects of both factions’ economic, bureaucratic, and economic corruption,” he further said.
“On the other hand, the world and international organizations can tell Iran and the international public opinion, we’ve given yet another opportunity to Iran to benefit. Iran is in a checkmate situation,” he concluded.
