Review of Palermo Bill Halted in Parliament Until Khamenei's 'Explicit' Opinion

The spokesperson for the Legal Commission of the Iranian Parliament announced that the commission has conditioned the review of the bill for Iran's accession to the Palermo Convention against organized crime on an explicit opinion from the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic. According to ISNA news agency, Hassan Norouzi stated that the commission's meeting to discuss the Guardian Council's objections to the Parliament's approval regarding Iran's accession to the Palermo Convention was held on Tuesday, July 23. In this meeting, Abbas Araqchi, Deputy Foreign Minister of Iran, the Deputy Minister of Intelligence, and a representative from the IRGC Intelligence Organization were present. Mr. Norouzi mentioned that some members of this commission believed that the Supreme Leader explicitly requested that the bills related to the implementation of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) regulations not be approved. He also stated that some parliament representatives mentioned that the Supreme Leader had 'agreed' to review these bills in response to the Iranian President. The spokesperson for the Legal and Judicial Commission added that the commission ultimately decided to write a letter to the Supreme Leader so that Ayatollah Khamenei could express his opinion explicitly on this matter. The Supreme Leader had previously called for the abandonment of Iran's accession to the Convention on Combating the Financing of Terrorism and requested that the Parliament independently legislate its laws regarding money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism. Ten days prior, the Iranian Parliament had voted to keep this bill on hold for two months. Abbasali Kadkhodai, spokesperson for the Guardian Council, announced on Saturday, July 14, that the council had rejected the Parliament's approval of the bill for the second time. The spokesperson also stated that the council believes the anti-money laundering bill approved by the Parliament is a 'judicial' bill and should be presented by the judiciary. Meanwhile, the Expediency Discernment Council of Iran announced on Saturday, July 9, that some parts of the bill for Iran's accession to the Palermo Convention contradict 'national security policies' and some principles of the Constitution. However, Hossein Ali Amiri, the parliamentary deputy of the President, stated that according to the Constitution, the authority to determine national security issues is the Supreme National Security Council, not the Expediency Discernment Council. He emphasized that the Supreme National Security Council had conducted 'very precise and expert discussions' regarding these bills and did not oppose them. In addition to these three bills, the bill to amend the law on combating the financing of terrorism is related to the implementation of the FATF regulations. Previously, several parliament representatives, including Alireza Beigi, quoted Abbas Araqchi, stating that although the implementation of FATF regulations is not directly related to the JCPOA, European 'assistance' in new negotiations with Iran depends on the implementation of these regulations. Iran has been on the FATF blacklist since 2009, but the group has suspended some restrictions against Iran while emphasizing its continued presence on the blacklist in the last two years. The group announced on Friday, July 8, that Iran has until this fall to make reforms that comply with global norms and rules in this area; otherwise, it must accept the consequences, including the withdrawal of investors from investing in the country. Meanwhile, two weeks ago, some media reported the sending of a confidential letter from Hassan Rouhani, the President of Iran, to Ahmad Jannati, the Secretary of the Guardian Council, in which he described the approval of the four anti-money laundering bills as 'necessary' in reference to the resolutions of the second meeting of the 'Supreme Economic Coordination Council.'