Iran Suspends Accession to International Convention on Combating Terrorist Financing

The Islamic Consultative Assembly suspended consideration of the bill to accede to the United Nations Convention for Combating the Financing of Terrorism for two months today.

This convention was established seventeen years ago with the aim of encouraging governments and cooperation among them to cut off financial sources to terrorist organizations and groups. To date, 187 countries worldwide have acceded to it.

Conservatives have expressed opposition to Iran’s accession to the convention on combating terrorist financing, voicing concerns that acceding to this convention would undermine Iran’s prospects for supporting regional allies such as Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Palestinian group Hamas. Groups that the United States and the European Union have classified as terrorist organizations.

Hardliners in the Islamic Consultative Assembly also fear that accession to the United Nations Convention for Combating the Financing of Terrorism would endanger the status of several members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, including Qasem Soleimani, commander of the Quds Force, who are on the U.S. terrorist list.

Source: Voice of America