Iran Parliament approves bill to counter terrorism financing
The bill was one of the four proposed by the government to remove Iran from the Financial Action Task Force blacklist.
The Iran Parliament on Sunday passed a bill to counter financing of terrorism which is seen as vital to to save the nuclear deal with European and Asian partners, reported AFP. The bill was passed by 143 votes to 120.
Combating the Financing of Terrorism bill was one of the four bills proposed by President Hassan Rouhani’s administration to remove the country from the Financial Action Task Force blacklist. It aims to bring Iran’s laws in line with international standards and allows it to join the UN Terrorism Financing Convention.
“We cannot give guarantees that by joining the CFT, the [banking] problems will be resolved but we can give guarantees that by not joining the bill the United States will invent pretexts to create more problems for us,” said Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, according to Tehran Times.
The Financial Action Task Force monitors global money laundering and terrorist financing. Iran and North Korea are currently on the blacklist. In June, the FATF gave Iran three months to pass laws in order to be removed from the blacklist. Being in the blacklist has caused problems for the country in gaining access global banking.
Zarif said without approving the bill, Iran’s “strategic partners” China and Russia will have problems in banking transactions.
United States President Donald Trump in May announced that he was pulling the US out of a Barack Obama-era nuclear agreement with Iran, calling it “decaying and rotten”. European Union members, however, agreed to stay in the agreement as long as Iran remains fully committed to the deal.