U.S. Treasury Secretary Welcomes FATF's Countermeasures Against Iran

The U.S. Treasury Secretary welcomed the decision of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) to keep Iran on its 'blacklist' and reaffirm countermeasures against Iran. Scott Basset emphasized that the United States supports FATF's action in 'reaffirming countermeasures against Iran due to the risk of terrorist financing.' On the FATF website, the purpose of these countermeasures is described as 'protecting the international financial system from the risk of money laundering and terrorist financing' in Iran. Iran has been unable to exit this international organization's blacklist, while Masoud Pezeshkian, the President, previously acknowledged that 'we have no choice but to resolve the FATF issue to lift sanctions.' Scott Basset also praised the continued efforts to strengthen the international financial system against all sources of illegal financing. According to a statement from the U.S. Treasury, U.S. representatives were also present at the FATF meeting. The FATF meeting took place from Wednesday to Friday, February 19 to 21, and Iran remained on this group's blacklist. In its closing statement, FATF reaffirmed countermeasures against Iran, emphasizing that due to Iran's failure to pass laws related to the Palermo and terrorist financing conventions, the group 'completely lifts the suspension of countermeasures.' The group also requested its members to implement effective countermeasures in dealings with Iran in accordance with Recommendation 19. FATF's Recommendation 19 suggests that member countries take 'enhanced measures' against some countries and 'countermeasures' against others; two lists known as 'grey' and 'black' are formed based on these recommendations. Iran was removed from FATF's 'blacklist' in 2016 but returned to this list in 2020 due to its failure to comply with the group's recommendations. The government of Hassan Rouhani presented four bills to the parliament to implement FATF's recommendations, but two bills known as 'Palermo' and 'CFT' have been stuck in the Expediency Council since being rejected by the Guardian Council. In recent years, there have been comments regarding Ali Khamenei's agreement to reconsider these two bills; however, some experts and economic analysts have pointed to the role of these comments in controlling currency prices. The Minister of Economy stated that Khamenei has 'agreed' to reconsider the FATF bills. Opponents of these two bills have repeatedly stated that their approval would mean cutting Iran's financial support to militia groups such as Hezbollah in Lebanon. The Financial Action Task Force, or FATF, is an intergovernmental organization that provides recommendations in the form of international standards to combat 'money laundering and terrorist financing.' Many governments, financial institutions, and banks voluntarily implement these recommendations, and currently, Iran, North Korea, and Myanmar are on this organization's blacklist.