FATF Aims to Undermine Iran’s Scientific Nuclear Power: Official

Former Iranian defense minister General Ahmad Vahidi, who is a member of the Expediency Council, warned against joining the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), saying the FATF aims to undermine the Islamic Republic’s “scientific nuclear power”.

“Regarding the issue of the FATF, we are witnessing that they have created a security current under the cover of an anti-money laundering organization, and in fact, the FATF is not an economic organization but a security one,” General Vahidi said in a speech on Monday.

“By forming the FATF, they (enemies) want to undermine our scientific nuclear power,” he said,

When the enemy noticed that it cannot hamper Iran’s peaceful nuclear program by resolutions, it tried to include nuclear issues in the FATF to prevent the country’s progress, the official stated.

According to the Financial Action Task Force, Iran had until October 2018 to complete reforms that would “bring it into line with global norms or face consequences” that could further deter investors from the country. On October 19, it extended the deadline to February.

Earlier this month, Iran’s Guardian Council (GC) said despite a recent amendment to the parliamentary bill for the country’s accession to Combating the Financing of Terrorism (CFT) treaty – a series of standards set by the FATF – its problems are still in place.

To fulfill FATF requirements, President Hassan Rouhani’s administration has proposed four bills to the parliament for approval, two of which are still undecided, including the Palermo Convention.

In June 2018, the Iranian parliament passed a law allowing the country to join the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (UNTOC), but decided to put on hold debates on accession to the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) for two months.

Iran’s parliament had in May adopted new amendments proposed by the government to the country’s Anti-Money Laundering (AML) law as part of efforts to improve connections to the international banking and trade system.