Larijani: Europe's Two Conditions for Financial Mechanism are Humiliating

While the Iranian government has presented an urgent bill to amend the anti-money laundering law to the parliament, the head of the judiciary called two European 'conditions' for launching a financial mechanism with Iran 'humiliating.' According to IRNA news agency, Sadegh Larijani, the head of the judiciary, stated on Tuesday, February 15, that Europe has set 'two humiliating conditions' for implementing the financial mechanism with Iran. According to Mr. Larijani, the acceptance of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) regulations and negotiations regarding Iran's missile program are Europe's two conditions. The official registration of the European mechanism for trade with Iran; the implementation of 'INSTEX' has been postponed to the future. Mr. Larijani's remarks come as the foreign ministers of three European countries stated in a statement related to the launch of the financial mechanism for trade with Iran that 'it is expected' that Iran 'will firmly implement all elements related to the FATF.' The statement made no mention of Iran's missile activities, although it is expected that the upcoming summary from the European Union regarding Iran will refer to other aspects of Iran's behavior, including its missile program. Meanwhile, the topic of missile talks, which had previously been reflected in the statements of the French foreign minister, was met with a response from the Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson, who rejected the French foreign minister's remarks about negotiating Iran's missile program. In this context, the head of the National Security and Foreign Policy Commission of the parliament also stated that 'the foreign ministry officials have not been given permission to negotiate on missile issues.' Now, the head of the judiciary has stated, 'Is the Islamic Republic so powerless that it cannot accept the FATF for medicine and food?' The three European countries involved in the nuclear talks with Iran, namely Germany, France, and Britain, announced on Thursday, February 11, the official registration of a special financial mechanism for trade with Iran under the name 'INSTEX' (Instrument in Support of Trade Exchanges). However, Hamid Baidi Nejad, Iran's ambassador in London, tweeted that in the statement of these three countries, the implementation of FATF regulations is mentioned not as a 'condition' but as an 'expectation' from Iran, which 'is due to the interference of the banking system in payments.' The FATF, on October 19, expressed regret 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 Islamic Republic officials. Meanwhile, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani expressed hope on Tuesday during a parliamentary session that two bills related to these regulations and a new government bill to amend the anti-money laundering law would be approved, allowing 'officials to facilitate foreign, financial, and banking transactions.' On the same day, Amir Hossein Ghazizadeh Hashemi, a member of the parliament's presiding board, announced that the government had submitted an urgent bill to the parliament last week, which is supposed to make amendments to the anti-money laundering law that was issued by the president last week. He did not mention the details of the expected amendments, and the text of this bill has not been published by the government. The Expediency Council approved the amendment to the anti-money laundering law on Saturday, January 15, and this law was issued by the Iranian president. However, Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh, head of the National Security and Foreign Policy Commission of the parliament, stated on Tuesday: 'According to what I have heard, one of the issues that has been amended in the mentioned law is the point of contention with the FATF.' According to Mr. Falahatpisheh, this is why the government has sent this urgent bill to the parliament to amend these contentious issues. Despite the government's request for a quicker approval of two bills for Iran's accession to the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (Palermo) and Iran's accession to the Convention on the Financing of Terrorism, the Expediency Council has not yet approved these bills. This body has had the Palermo bill on its agenda in its last two sessions but has not yet rejected or approved it. The political-defense and legal-judicial commissions of the Expediency Council have rejected this bill. The bill for Iran's accession to the Convention on the Financing of Terrorism is also on this body's agenda. Meanwhile, Mohammad Hossein Safar Harandi, a member of the Expediency Council, stated that with the implementation of the FATF regulations, 'there will no longer be the possibility of circumventing sanctions.' He added: 'While there is no guarantee for solving the country's sanction problems with the approval of the FATF, on the other hand, not joining it will certainly create new problems for the country.' 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 examining these bills in the parliament.' However, some of Ayatollah Khamenei's appointees, including Friday prayer leaders, have called for the rejection of these bills, and in recent days, gatherings have been held in some Friday prayers and mosques. Several ministers have written a letter to Ali Khamenei, the leader of the Islamic Republic, requesting that the two bills related to the FATF regulations be approved before the deadline set by this group, which is about a month away.