Iran's Conditions for Joining the Convention on Combating the Financing of Terrorism

Following the conditional approval of the bill for Iran's accession to the Convention on Combating the Financing of Terrorism by the Islamic Consultative Assembly, Iranian media published further details about the Islamic Republic's conditions for joining this bill. The National Security and Foreign Policy Commission of the Islamic Consultative Assembly approved the bill conditionally on Tuesday, June 8. Kamal Dehghani Firouzabadi, the deputy chairman of this commission, announced that 'this bill was approved with eight conditions set by Iran in the commission, and a interpretative declaration from the government regarding this bill was also presented to the commission, which was approved.' The bill for joining the Convention on Combating the Financing of Terrorism was also discussed in an extraordinary session of the National Security Commission earlier this week, but due to the obstruction (quorum breaking) by some representatives, the session fell short of a quorum and voting was postponed to Tuesday. The Convention on Combating the Financing of Terrorism is one of the United Nations treaties aimed at encouraging governments and cooperation between countries to cut off financial resources to groups described as terrorist, adopted in 1999. So far, 187 countries have joined this convention. Opponents of these bills in the Islamic Consultative Assembly are concerned about the difficulties of Iran's financial support to groups like Hezbollah in Lebanon and armed Palestinian groups following the passage of these bills and increased pressures on the Islamic Republic due to its support for these groups, which they refer to as 'resistance groups.' Hezbollah is recognized as a 'terrorist group' by the US, the Netherlands, the Arab League, and Israel, while the European Union has classified its military wing as 'terrorist.' The Hamas group is also listed as a 'terrorist group' by the US, Canada, and Israel, with the European Union considering its military wing 'terrorist.' However, the government of Hassan Rouhani claims that this bill and three related bills aim for 'banking transparency and discipline' and 'alignment with the regulations and rules of the world's banks.' According to Iranian media, one of the conditions for the Islamic Republic's accession to the bill for joining the Convention on Combating the Financing of Terrorism is that 'the provisions of the convention shall not be binding in cases of conflict with the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran.' In part of the declarations and conditions for joining this convention, it is stated that Iran does not consider 'the definition of terrorist acts to include legitimate popular struggles against colonial domination and foreign occupation and... declares... that these struggles, regardless of their motivation, are permissible and legitimate.' Another condition of Iran is that joining the mentioned convention does not mean 'recognizing and establishing relations' with Israel. Currently, one of the criticisms from the Trump administration and other European countries towards Iran is the Islamic Republic's actions in the Middle East, which are described as 'interference' in the affairs of other countries and exacerbating 'instability' in the region. Following the announcement of the US withdrawal from the JCPOA agreement, several members of the Stability Front in the Assembly called for a six-month halt in reviewing this bill until the outcome of negotiations between Iran and Europe regarding the fate of the JCPOA is clarified. According to some members of the Assembly, although these bills are not directly related to the JCPOA, their approval and the implementation of the Financial Action Task Force regulations in Iran have been among the demands of European countries in new negotiations with Tehran. After criticisms from some conservative representatives regarding the bill 'Iran's accession to the International Convention on Combating the Financing of Terrorism' and tensions in the Assembly about this matter, Ali Larijani, the Speaker of the Assembly, announced that the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic had 'not commented' on this bill. Iran has been on the blacklist of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) since 2009, but this group, which aims to 'combat money laundering and the financing of terrorism globally,' has suspended some of its restrictions against Iran in the past two years. The opposition of some members of the Assembly to the review of these bills occurs while the Research Center of the Iranian Assembly recently reported that according to the Basel Committee's assessment, Iran, along with 'a few other limited countries, has the worst situation regarding the risk of money laundering and financing terrorism.' According to this report, in 2016, Iran was 'at the top of the countries attractive for money laundering and the riskiest country, having a worse ranking than countries like Sudan, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, and Afghanistan.'