Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic Calls for Abandonment of Anti-Terrorism Financing Bill

Following conservative protests against bills related to money laundering and Iran's accession to the Anti-Terrorism Financing Convention, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic implicitly called for the abandonment of these bills on Wednesday, June 19. The Supreme Leader also urged the Parliament to independently legislate its own laws regarding money laundering and combating terrorism financing. Opponents of Iran's accession to the Anti-Terrorism Financing Convention argue that this would block financial assistance to Hamas and Hezbollah. Proponents of Iran's accession to this treaty claim that its opponents fear economic transparency and the prevention of banking corruption. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, speaking during a meeting with parliament representatives, described international treaties and conventions as "cooked up" in "think tanks of great powers to serve their interests" and stated, "If an independent country like Iran does not accept them, it will be severely attacked." The Anti-Terrorism Financing Convention is one of the United Nations treaties aimed at encouraging governments and cooperation between countries to cut off financial resources for terrorist groups, adopted in 1999, with 187 countries currently having joined. The government of Hassan Rouhani submitted the bill for Iran's accession to this convention to the Islamic Consultative Assembly last December. This bill was approved about three weeks ago with amendments in the National Security and Foreign Policy Commission of the Parliament, but disputes over it continued until the Parliament ultimately voted on June 9 to suspend the bill for two months with 138 votes in favor and 103 against. The bill for accession to the Anti-Terrorism Financing Convention is one of four controversial bills related to the implementation of Financial Action Task Force (FATF) regulations that have been raised in the Islamic Consultative Assembly in recent weeks. In his remarks on Wednesday, the Supreme Leader emphasized that "while some provisions of international treaties may be good, there is no necessity to join conventions that we are unaware of their deep objectives or know they have problems." According to the Supreme Leader's information website, Ayatollah Khamenei suggested that the Parliament "independently legislate on issues such as combating terrorism or money laundering." In recent months, Ali Larijani, the Speaker of the Parliament, stated that the Supreme Leader had no opinion on the mentioned bills, and Ali Motahari, the Deputy Speaker of the Parliament, also reported that the issues of these bills had been resolved in "connection with the Leader's office." However, a few days ago, Hossein Ali Amiri, the parliamentary deputy of the Iranian President, confirmed that several members of Parliament had been threatened both "in person and via text messages" to oppose the Anti-Terrorism Financing bill. The FATF was established in 1989 and monitors international anti-money laundering and anti-terrorism financing standards. One of the reasons cited by opposing representatives for not joining this convention is the blockage of financial assistance to Hamas and Hezbollah, two groups that the U.S. and several other countries consider "terrorist." The involvement of the "seven-headed dragon of corruption in the banking network" has also been cited as another reason for some opposition to the approval of this bill. This term was used last week by Mahmoud Sadqi, a representative from Tehran in the Parliament. He strongly protested the remarks of the Friday Prayer leader of Mashhad, who implicitly called supporters of joining this convention "traitors to the country," and described Khorasan as "one of the habitats of the seven-headed dragon of the opaque banking corruption network." In January of last year, the bankruptcy of financial institutions led to a protest rally in Mashhad, which gradually evolved into political-social demands and resulted in nationwide demonstrations in Iran. The Astan Quds Razavi, which is under the supervision of Ebrahim Raisi, the son-in-law of Ahmad Alamolhoda, is not overseen by any organization and does not pay taxes to the government for its extensive economic activities.