Aftershocks of CFT Approval; From Death Threats to Threats of Bombing Parliament
Opponents of Iran’s accession to the Convention on Combating the Financing of Terrorism did not remain silent even after its approval in parliament. Threats continue. Some representatives have been threatened with death. Some messages also report “bombing parliament.”
The approval of Iran’s accession to the Convention on Combating the Financing of Terrorism in the Iranian Parliament sparked varied reactions among supporters and opponents of the bill. Opponents, who had initiated their attacks and even threatening messages to parliamentarians from the beginning, did not back down with the passage of the CFT accession bill and continued their attacks. Even some parliament members on Monday, October 8, announced that they had been “threatened with death” or “threatened with bombing” of parliament.
Opponents of Iran’s accession to the Convention on Combating the Financing of Terrorism, and primarily hardline principalists, should now pin all their hopes on the Guardian Council. However, given yesterday’s position of the office of Iran’s Supreme Leader regarding this bill, which was read by Ali Larijani, the speaker of parliament, predicting the Guardian Council’s reaction has become difficult.
The office of Iran’s Supreme Leader, quoting Ayatollah Khamenei, wrote: “What I said in my meeting with representatives regarding the four bills and conventions was about the principle of conventions and not a specific convention. Therefore, I have no objection to the review of these bills in parliament so they proceed through their legal process.”
This is while Iran’s Supreme Leader on June 21 had explicitly declared his opposition to the bill on accession to the Convention on Combating the Financing of Terrorism and had asked parliament members to approve other laws in this field.
Guardian Council Position: It’s Too Early
The Guardian Council’s first reaction also showed the doubt of this appointed body regarding the approval of “CFT.” Abbassali Kadkhodaei, spokesman for the Guardian Council, said yesterday: “It is too early to announce a position. Parliament has approved it, but it has not yet come to us. It must first be sent to the Guardian Council so that, God willing, we will announce our position. For now, until it reaches the Guardian Council, I have no comment.”
Kadkhodaei also said that the “opportunity” to review two other bills related to FATF (Financial Action Task Force), namely the bill on accession to the Palermo Convention and amendments to the anti-money laundering law, has not materialized, and these bills will also be “on this week’s agenda” of the Guardian Council. The Guardian Council’s spokesman also wrote on Twitter that this body’s review of the “CFT” bill would be “like other resolutions” and based on “constitutional law and Islamic criteria.”
“A Brilliant Display of Democracy” for Government Supporters
It is clear that the government also fears the Guardian Council’s opposition. Hossein Ashena, an adviser to Iran’s president, in his Twitter account, referring to the fact that “steadfasts stationed in parliament did their duties,” wrote: “What remains is the other stages, and surely the steadfasts stationed in other institutions will also do their duties well.” “Steadfasts stationed in other institutions” is a not-too-subtle reference to the Guardian Council or, under certain circumstances, the Expediency Discernment Council, which, in the view of Rouhani’s adviser, should “do their duties well.”
Mahmoud Vaezi, the chief of staff of the presidency, while “thanking” parliament, considered the approval of the CFT bill in Iran’s legislative branch to be “a powerful display of unity, democracy, and political dynamism” and said that representatives “ultimately voted for what was in the interests of national welfare and the sacred system of the Islamic Republic.”
Hamid Aboutalebi, deputy chief of staff for political affairs, welcomed Iran’s accession to the Convention on Combating the Financing of Terrorism yesterday and wrote on Twitter, among other things: “Parliament members demonstrated that national security of the country and the interests of the Iranian people were a priority in their decisions, and they will resolve upcoming challenges with wisdom and resolve.”
Hamid Baeidinejad, Iran’s ambassador to Britain, called the process of approving the CFT bill in the Islamic Consultative Assembly “a brilliant display of democracy” and tweeted: “With this resolution, our country’s four legal commitments to FATF’s financial and banking standards were approved and completed by parliament.”
A “Black Day” for Parliamentary Hardliners
However, there was another dimension to the reactions. The day of approving Iran’s accession to the Convention on Combating the Financing of Terrorism was a difficult day for its staunch opponents. Nader Ghazi Pour, a member of the Velayat faction in parliament, called the day of approving the CFT bill a “black day” for the Islamic Consultative Assembly and said in a speech during the open session on Sunday: “Military officials described the dangerous harms of this bill, but government officials spoke against them and insisted on FATF approval, and ultimately a shameful treaty like Paris, Golestan, and a second Turkmencha was approved in parliament. The nation had 120 negative votes.”
Ghazi Pour’s remarks indicate the extent and depth of opposition among Iranian hardliners to the approval of the four bills related to “FATF.” Of course, the opposition is not limited to harsh public statements. Parliament members had also reported receiving “threatening messages” and on Sunday, Ali Larijani during the review of the aforementioned bill confirmed the sending of these messages and said: “Parliament is too mature to change its opinion because of a few text messages.”
Yesterday, concurrent with the beginning of the review of the “CFT” bill in parliament, some opponents of its approval gathered in front of the Iranian Parliament building and demanded that representatives vote against the bill. However, it appears that the passage of the bill has not ended the threats.
Threat of “Bombing Parliament”
Parvaneh Salehshouri, a representative of Tehran in parliament, revealed on Monday her threat of death in her Twitter account and wrote: “Until yesterday it was insults. From last night, death threats from opponents of the anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism bill. Those close to me know I got thirty extra years of life from God and I don’t fear threats. I proudly say I voted against supporters of terrorism in Iran and the world. By the way, I won’t go to the pool. Think of another way.”
Tayebeh Siavoshi, another reformist parliament member, also shared a threatening message she received Sunday evening on Twitter. The message said: “I swear if you vote yes on these bills, we will bomb parliament.” Siavoshi wrote: “They intend to bomb parliament! Where do these messages and strange organizations come from? These threats seem to continue until late into the night and don’t seem to end.”
Mohammad Reza Badamchi, a member of the Hope faction in parliament, referring to the fact that “they want to intimidate representatives,” told the state news agency IRNA: “Threatening messages about the CFT bill have been sent to representatives for a long time. We thought these messages would end after the review and passage of this bill, but these messages continue and have taken on the nature of curses.”
According to Badamchi: “Those sending these messages until yesterday said do this and don’t do that; from yesterday and after the passage of this bill, the tone of their messages has changed and they say ‘woe to you.'”
This reformist representative, in response to yesterday’s gathering in front of parliament, also said that “people are being encouraged to come in front of parliament and chant. We have heard that these people were brought by bus to in front of parliament from a specific geographic route and neighborhoods, and this is really not befitting the cultured people of Iran.”
Use of “Chemical Weapons in Cyberspace”
Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi, Iran’s Minister of Communications and Information Technology, on Monday, referring to messages related to the approval of Iran’s accession to “CFT,” said: “We should be more careful so that some of our own, by misusing chemical weapons in cyberspace, do not damage public trust.”
Iran’s communications minister added: “Some last night in cyberspace insulted the speaker of the Islamic Consultative Assembly, and this is a clear example of using chemical weapons by our own.” Azari Jahromi emphasized: “Some don’t know that the use of chemical weapons by our own has a more destructive effect on damaging public trust. When some in the guise of our own call our system’s officials hypocrites, what does it mean except using chemical weapons against our own?”
Mohammad Ali Vakili, a member of the parliament’s presidium, said today that the threatening messages sent to representatives “first begin with insulting and threatening Ali Larijani, the speaker of parliament, and then threaten other representatives and insult them.”
Alireza Rahimi, a member of parliament’s presidium, yesterday, referring to “threatening” messages sent to representatives, cited most of them originating from Khorasan and Isfahan provinces and said: “In fact, opponents, including the shrouded ones and some students, on various occasions brought deep technical discussions to the streets and in this regard were given a platform on state radio and television.”
The deputy for political, security, and social affairs of Razavi Khorasan Province has also said that anti-FATF messages have been sent from a hostel on Chamran Street in Mashhad to representatives. According to Mohammad Rahim Noorozian, a person named Kh.M., who was a former member of Mashhad’s city council, was the “main person in charge” of sending the messages, and he openly declared this matter, and it was not a secret issue. In the list of members of Mashhad’s city council, there was a person named Khalil Mohammadi, a student of Tous, a member of the fourth period (2013-2017).
At the same time, the vice-chairman of the Velayat Independent faction in parliament also accused the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting of “harmonizing” with “a minimalist group” against FATF. Gholomali Jafarizadeh Aminabadi, referring to the broadcast of “an anti-FATF documentary report” from Iranian television, whose director is appointed by Iran’s Supreme Leader, said: “State radio and television should be a place of diverse views and truly “national”; but unfortunately, sometimes we witness that due to some politicking, the direction of state radio and television is such that it seems to want to forcefully push public opinion in a particular direction.”
Zarif’s “Coded Message” According to Karimi Qadousi
Javad Karimi Qadousi, a hardline principalist and one of the staunchest opponents of the approval of bills related to “FATF,” is among those who have strongly reacted to yesterday’s remarks of Iran’s foreign minister in parliament and implicitly considered the approval of the “CFT” bill to be a kind of retreat that could subsequently lead to reconsideration of the Islamic Republic’s regional and missile programs.
Mohammad Javad Zarif, who attended the parliament’s open session to defend the approval of the “CFT” bill, said, among other things: “Neither I nor Mr. the President guarantee that by acceding to the Convention on Combating the Financing of Terrorism, the country’s problems will be solved. But we guarantee that by not acceding to this bill, America will find important excuses to increase our problems.”
Karimi Qadousi, in explaining Zarif’s “coded message,” wrote in a series of tweets: “Based on their and the president’s policy; after accepting all these contracts and problems not being solved again, if you still ask Mr. Foreign Minister, after JCPOA and FATF, what other step should this nation take to solve the problems?! Surely the answer will be to abandon missiles and stop supporting the resistance movement.”
Meanwhile, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran’s former president, who has been marginalized for some time, has also implicitly opposed the approval of the “CFT” bill. Ahmadinejad wrote on his Twitter account: “No international agreement should be signed without the vote and approval of the Iranian people.”
The Importance of the Four Bills for Iran
The Islamic Consultative Assembly placed four bills on its agenda to avoid the risk of a complete blockade of banking transfer channels with the arrival of US sanctions: the bill on Iran’s accession to the Convention on Organized Transnational Crime known as the “Palermo Convention”; the bill on Iran’s accession to the Convention on Combating the Financing of Terrorism (CFT), the bill on amendments to the anti-money laundering law, and the bill on amendments to the counter-terrorism financing law.
In addition to the bill on Iran’s accession to “CFT,” parliament has also approved three other bills. Of course, these bills, except for the bill on amendments to the counter-terrorism financing law, have faced the Guardian Council’s opposition.
Less than a month ago, the Expediency Discernment Council rejected one of the bills related to “FATF,” namely the bill on amendments to the anti-money laundering law, calling it contrary to “the general policies of resistance economy, investment promotion, food security, and economic security” and, referring to the “dangers” resulting from the passage of such a bill, rejected it.
Despite this, many supporters of the approval of the four bills considered the Expediency Discernment Council’s opinions “consultative” and considered the body responsible for reviewing such “vital” bills not to be this council, but rather the Supreme National Security Council. Iran’s negotiating team, which is engaged in talks with the European Union to “preserve the JCPOA,” had previously conveyed its message to parliament about the necessity of approving the four bills related to combating money laundering and financing of terrorism.
The approval of the four bills, including accession to the Convention on Combating the Financing of Terrorism, is necessary to break the international banking restrictions on Iran. The smoothing of this path is impossible without the Islamic Republic’s cooperation with “FATF,” under which the convention operates. Among the recommendations of the intergovernmental organization Financial Action Task Force is the creation of “international standards” to combat money laundering and financing of terrorism. This group, which monitors Iran’s activities and the progress of this country in combating money laundering and counter-terrorism financing, gave the Islamic Republic three more months in early July to implement this organization’s conditions and create the conditions for its complete removal from the “blacklist.”
Source: DW
