Continued Opposition of Principlists to Palermo Bill on Last Day of FATF Deadline

One day before the deadline set by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) for Iran, the Secretary of the Expediency Discernment Council and several Friday prayer leaders attacked two bills related to these regulations, and protests were held during some Friday prayers. According to the Young Journalists Club website, Mohsen Rezaei, Secretary of the Expediency Discernment Council, stated on Friday, February 15, that Iran cannot receive oil money directly through the European financial channel and can only receive food and medicine in return. He added, "The Europeans are not even willing to give us our own money, yet they say we should cooperate financially with them. This is why we are suspicious of these requests regarding CFT and Palermo, and we have asked the government and parliament to clearly respond to the ambiguities raised by the Expediency Council." On October 19, the FATF expressed regret that most of Iran's commitments remain unresolved and extended Iran's suspension from the group's blacklist for another four months, which was welcomed by Islamic Republic officials. As the deadline approaches, the two bills for Iran's accession to the Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (Palermo) and the Convention on the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism have not yet been approved by the Expediency Discernment Council. Meanwhile, Gholamreza Mesbahi Moghadam, a member of the Expediency Discernment Council, stated that this body is set to announce its final opinion on the Palermo bill on Saturday. One day before this meeting, several Friday prayer leaders spoke out against these bills, and protests were held in Friday prayers and some mosques in several cities across Iran. For instance, Rasoul Fallahati, the Friday prayer leader of Rasht, opposed these two bills, stating that "the Europeans have put disgraceful laws against Iran on their agenda." Hadi Rouhani, the Friday prayer leader of Babol, also attended a gathering of protesters against this bill who were staging a sit-in at a mosque in this city. The Tasnim and Fars news agencies, affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, also published interviews against these two bills on Friday. Several members of the Expediency Discernment Council, including Ahmad Tavakoli, had previously predicted that these bills would be approved. However, Mr. Tavakoli later spoke out against these bills. He emphasized on Friday, "Even if we join the FATF, problems will not be solved because the root of the problems is internal. They themselves say it is unclear whether the situation will improve with this. Then they said we cannot manage the country! Well, if you can't, resign." Previously, Majid Ansari, a member of the Expediency Discernment Council, announced that he had been threatened with 'death' for agreeing to these bills. Meanwhile, Mohammad Reza Aref, head of the Hope faction, wrote on Twitter that members of the Expediency Discernment Council "will not be influenced by this propaganda and will fulfill their religious and national duty regarding the Palermo bill." Despite Ayatollah Khamenei's previous opposition, a letter from him was read in the public session of the parliament on October 7, stating, "I have no objection to reviewing these bills in the parliament."