Ahmad Tavakoli: The CFT Issue Will Be Resolved

Ahmad Tavakoli, a member of the Expediency Discernment Council, expressed optimism regarding the approval of the bill for Iran's accession to the Convention on Combating the Financing of Terrorism (CFT). Mahmoud Sadqi, a member of parliament, also stated that the renewed support of representatives for this bill depends on their assurance of the feasibility of international banking transactions. The bill, referred to as the 'most important' legislation related to the implementation of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) regulations, was recently rejected by the Guardian Council. Previously, various representatives in parliament had described Iran's accession to the CFT as the 'most important' step to meet FATF's expectations from Iran, with Behrouz Namati, the spokesman for the parliamentary board, stating that 'solving many of the country's current problems is contingent on resolving the CFT.' Ahmad Tavakoli noted that the Guardian Council did not outright reject the CFT but indicated that certain parts of the text or words do not align with the Constitution or Sharia. He added that if disagreements between the Guardian Council and parliament continue, the issue will be referred to the Expediency Council, which does not reject or approve but rather examines whether it aligns with the general policies of the system. Tavakoli stated that 'considerations' regarding this bill are being made in both the parliament and the Expediency Council, and he does not see 'rushing' the fate of this bill as beneficial. He also mentioned that the Supreme Leader is overseeing the CFT through the 'Supervisory Commission' of the Expediency Council, and although Ayatollah Ali Khamenei 'deems it appropriate' to intervene directly in the approval of this bill, he believes 'the issue will be resolved.' Ali Bakhtiar, a member of parliament, stated that the Foreign Policy and National Security Commission is working to address the 'deficiencies' in the bill for Iran's accession to the Convention on Combating the Financing of Terrorism and has called for the presence of Guardian Council members in these sessions. He described the parliament's positive vote on the four bills as a sign of Iran's position at the 'forefront of the fight against terrorism.' Meanwhile, Mahmoud Sadqi reported that 'proponents of the CFT will only defend this bill again if they are assured that international banking transactions will be possible.' Sadqi noted on his Twitter page that the Guardian Council's objections to the CFT bill are 'remediable,' but he conditioned the motivation of supportive representatives on the realization of the aforementioned issue. Of the other three FATF bills, including 'the bill to amend the law on combating the financing of terrorism,' 'the bill to amend the anti-money laundering law,' and 'the Palermo bill,' only the first has been approved by the Guardian Council, and the status of the others remains unclear. Despite Ayatollah Khamenei's previous opposition, it was announced in a public session reviewing the CFT bill in parliament that the Supreme Leader has no objection to the approval of the bill for Iran's accession to the Convention on Combating the Financing of Terrorism. The FATF expressed regret on October 19 that most of the issues related to Iran's commitments remain unresolved, while extending Iran's suspension from the group's blacklist for another four months, which was welcomed by Iranian officials.