In a joint press conference with German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas in Berlin, recently published on the website of the US Department of State, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called on Iran to ratify the two remaining FATF-related treaties, namely the convention against the funding of terrorism (CFT) and the UN Palermo Convention on Transnational Organized Crime. He said Iran must ratify the treaties “without delay” and “without reservation.”
This is the first time that the US administration asks Iran officially to ratify the ratify the two remaining FATF-related treaties, namely the convention against the funding of terrorism (CFT) and the UN Palermo Convention on Transnational Organized Crime
Meanwhile, different voices inside Iran are heard on joining the Financial Action Task Force. While the Parliament and the Rouhani administration have been more or less in favor of joining the FATF, the Guardian Council and Expediency Council have their own concerns.
A member of the Expediency Council, Hossein Mozaffar, has recently said that “the kind of transparency that FATF seeks in the Palermo bill is to find out our ways for bypassing sanctions. For a country under sanctions, it is a very unwise move to show our hands and let them see and block all our strategies.”
The US official request on Iran can be interpreted in line of the White House’s efforts to put maximum pressure on Iran because if Iran does not ratify the FATF, it will return to red status. Returning to red status may affect the some countries’ cooperation with Iran like Russia, China and India despite their own will.
Another Goal which the US is following up by asking Iran to ratify the mentioned bills is to pave the way for attracting the EU cooperation on exerting pressure on Iran. The EU has repeatedly announced that it is against the US policy toward Iran after its withdrawal from the JCPOA.
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