A Commander of the IRGC Criticizes FATF: This Treaty is a Lever to Influence Us

The deputy commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) stated that the purpose of the agreement with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is to "monitor financial flows and serve as a lever to influence" this institution, but remarked that this agreement "has no impact on the internal and regional operations of the IRGC." According to Fars News Agency, Hossein Salami, the IRGC's deputy, referred to the FATF agreement as one of the "unfair and fabricated definitions." He added, "The goal of this agreement is not at all about money laundering and financial flows towards terrorist groups; otherwise, how did ISIS come into existence with what money and support?" The deputy commander of the IRGC emphasized, "I am sure this convention and the FATF treaty are tools for monitoring our financial flows and a lever to influence us." He also stated that accepting this agreement "has no effect on the internal and regional operations of the IRGC" and that this institution "creates its impact in distant lands." The issue of Iran's acceptance of the FATF has made headlines in recent weeks, with Friday prayer leaders and some close associates of the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, including Gholamali Haddad Adel, advisor to Ayatollah Khamenei, and Hossein Shariatmadari, representative of the Supreme Leader in Kayhan newspaper, strongly opposing this agreement. Ahmad Jannati, Secretary of the Guardian Council, even went so far as to predict that there would be "obstruction" to the implementation of this agreement. However, Kamal Kharrazi, head of the Strategic Council on Foreign Relations of Iran, announced that the Supreme National Security Council of Iran has approved "new conditions" for accepting the FATF standards. After Iranian Central Bank officials reached an agreement with the FATF called the "Action Plan" regarding anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism, this international group, which operates globally to combat money laundering, announced in early July that it had suspended the restrictions on the monetary and financial system of this institution on Iran's banking system for 12 months. Abbas Araghchi, Deputy for Legal and International Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Iran, emphasized that Iran will not sacrifice the Hezbollah group of Lebanon for anything. Despite these statements from government officials, some members of parliament have said that if the FATF regulations are implemented, Iran will practically recognize groups like Hezbollah and Hamas as "terrorist groups" from 2018 onwards. In this context, the deputy commander of the IRGC stressed that the demand for the Islamic Republic to consider Hezbollah and armed Palestinian groups as "terrorists" is "absolutely unacceptable." In recent months, the issue of the lack of foreign currency services to the IRGC has also made headlines, and Abdollah Haji-Sadeghi, the deputy representative of the Supreme Leader in the IRGC, stated that if banks lose the financial resources of this institution, they will "suffer damage." The head of the Central Bank has ordered banks to provide services "only based on domestic laws," not based on foreign agreements. However, some experts have stated that due to the sanctions on these institutions, if Iranian banks issue currency declarations for them, foreign banks will not accept these declarations, and in fact, the letters from these banks reflect technical reasons and the existing reality. Meanwhile, Hossein Ghazavi, Deputy Minister of Economy, also stated in an interview with Iran newspaper that foreign banks are unwilling to cooperate with Iranian banks regarding individuals still on the Western sanctions list due to existing penalties.