After months of reviewing the bill, Iranian Parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission has agreed to Iran’s accession to the Convention for the Suppression of Financing of Terrorism as long as six conditions are met.
Iran needs to pass the bill in order to get off the FATF blacklist, but a number of lawmakers are concerned over the certain limitations that the convention would impose on Iran’s ties with resistance groups such as Lebanon’s Hezbollah or Palestine’s Hamas.
The six conditions set by the Iranian Parliament's National Security Commission in order to allow the accession to the bill are as follows:
1) In accordance with Article 2, paragraph 2 of the International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism, the Islamic Republic of Iran declares that it will not consider as part of the Convention those provisions and protocols in the annex to which Iran has not accessed. Provisions of Article 23 on amending the list of regular agreements to the Convention will only be binding if complying with principles 77 and 125 of Iran’s Constitution.
2) Iran does not consider legitimate popular resistance against colonial domination and foreign occupation as terrorist act, and declares that Article 6 of the Convention bears no relation to this right. These struggles regardless of their motives are legal while terrorist acts with any motive is forbidden.
3) Paragraph 1 of Article 24 about the Islamic Republic depends on observing principle 139 of Iran’s Constitution. Paragraph 2 of Article 7 and the content of Article 17 of the Convention will be implemented within the framework of Iran’s domestic laws.
4) The qualification noted in Paragraph 5 of Article 9 for the International Committee of the Red Cross will be accepted by Iran only within the framework of binding humanitarian laws documents.
5) The provisions of the Convention are not binding in cases of conflict with Iran’s Islamic law.
6) The accession of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the Convention does not mean recognizing and establishing relations with the occupying Zionist regime.
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