Obstruction in Parliamentary Committee Against Bill 'Iran's Accession to the Convention on Combating the Financing of Terrorism'

A member of the National Security and Foreign Policy Commission of the Parliament reported that opponents of the JCPOA obstructed the commission's meeting to review the bill 'Iran's Accession to the Convention on Combating the Financing of Terrorism', causing the meeting to fall short of a quorum. Alireza Rahimi also mentioned on his Twitter page that 'threatening' messages from members of the Student Basij were sent to parliamentarians to persuade them to vote against the bill. He wrote that on Sunday, June 6, and 'at the moment' of voting on this bill, five members of the commission, who opposed the JCPOA, obstructed the meeting. According to Mr. Rahimi, four other members were absent, and therefore, no vote was taken on this bill. He also reported that 14 other members of the commission supported the bill. According to the regulations of the Iranian Parliament, commission meetings are official with the presence of at least two-thirds of the members, and the commission's decisions must be approved by a majority of the members. This parliament member also wrote that 'since yesterday, a wave of threatening and accusatory text messages from individuals claiming to represent the community and Student Basij against most parliament members has begun.' According to Mr. Rahimi, these Student Basij forces 'threaten' parliament members to not vote for the bill 'Iran's Accession to the Convention on Combating the Financing of Terrorism', stating that 'otherwise, they will be considered traitors to Iran.' The bill 'Iran's Accession to the International Convention on Combating the Financing of Terrorism' has been under review in recent weeks in public sessions of the parliament, but representatives agreed to return this bill to the National Security and Foreign Policy Commission for further review in the session on June 1. In this session, the Speaker of the Parliament also responded to criticisms from members of the Steadfast Front by stating that the Supreme Leader has not given an opinion on this bill. Some members of the Steadfast Front in the parliament have called for a six-month halt in the review of the bill 'Iran's Accession to the International Convention on Combating the Financing of Terrorism' until the outcome of negotiations between Iran and Europe regarding the fate of the JCPOA is clarified. According to several parliament members, 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. The Islamic Consultative Assembly also held a closed session on May 30 regarding four controversial bills related to the implementation of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) regulations, attended by several senior security and executive officials. Three bills, 'Accession to the Convention on Combating the Financing of Terrorism', 'Amendment of the Anti-Money Laundering Law', and 'Amendment of the Law on Combating the Financing of Terrorism', are currently under review in the Iranian parliament. The 'Bill on Joining the Convention on Organized Crime (Palermo)' has also been approved by the parliament, but the Guardian Council has returned this bill to the parliament for amendments. Opponents of these bills in the parliament are concerned about the difficulties of financial assistance from Iran to groups like Hezbollah in Lebanon and armed Palestinian groups following the approval of these bills. Hezbollah has been designated as a 'terrorist group' by the US, the Netherlands, the Arab League, and Israel, and the European Union has also classified its military wing as 'terrorist'. The Hamas group is listed as a 'terrorist group' by the US, Canada, and Israel, and the European Union also considers its military wing 'terrorist'. Iran has been on the Financial Action Task Force's blacklist since 2009, but this group, which aims to 'combat money laundering and the financing of terrorism worldwide', has suspended some of its restrictions against Iran in the past two years. The opposition of several parliament members to the review of these bills comes as the Research Center of the Iranian Parliament recently reported that according to the Basel Committee's assessment, Iran has one of the 'worst situations' regarding 'money laundering and financing of terrorism' along with 'a few other limited countries'. According to this report, in 2016, Iran was 'at the top of countries attractive for money laundering and the riskiest country, with a worse ranking than countries like Sudan, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, and Afghanistan'. The Bank for International Settlements (BIS), which provides services to central banks, consists of committees, one of the most important of which is the Basel Committee, which provides a set of guidelines in the field of risk management for banks. The Financial Action Task Force was established in 1989 and controls international standards against money laundering and the financing of terrorism and weapons of mass destruction.