When people's lives are "played" under the pretext of "FATF is not honest"

Rouhani warned that not approving the FATF bills is playing with people's lives. The secretary of the Expediency Discernment Council is concerned that approving them will take away the "lever of diplomacy" from the government. A member of parliament said, "If FATF is honest, it should provide information on Soleimani's assassination."

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani warned again at a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, March 3, about the heavy cost of not joining the Financial Action Task Force and not approving its bills. He said: “This issue is related to the lives and pockets of every single person, and if we do not join this group and these bills are not implemented, it must be explained to the people who will pay this cost.”

He was quoted by IRNA as saying that not only have all countries joined the Financial Action Task Force, but they are also “trying to achieve a higher rank” in it. Opposition to the FATF will be a serious obstacle to Iran’s trade with the world, even if US sanctions are lifted.

The four FATF bills were approved in the previous parliament and then in the Guardian Council, but they remained undecided due to the opposition of the current parliament and the Expediency Council to two of its bills: combating transnational organized crime (Palermo) and combating the financing of terrorism.

Rouhani said of the economic consequences of Iran not joining the group: “When the country’s risk number goes up, it means we have to pay more to move money, and that puts more pressure on the economy.” This step is so important that even the Islamic Republic’s allies have advised its officials not to hesitate in taking it.

He called on the Expediency Discernment Council to "show its power to solve the people's financial problems," emphasizing that this issue has nothing to do with the JCPOA or sanctions.

The Secretary of the Expediency Discernment Council's Show of Power

Mohsen Rezaei, the secretary of the Expediency Discernment Council, accused the government officials of "contradictions" in his press conference today, saying, "One of the ministers had said to approve these bills because they might lift the sanctions at any time so that we are ready and can work," but "this issue is also ambiguous, meaning no one is telling the members of the council when the sanctions will be lifted."

He said the Expediency Discernment Council is waiting for the government to provide a "documented and written response" in this regard so that the council can "come to a conclusion" probably in April of next year.

This is while not only the government, but none of the Iranian government officials have the ability to predict when the sanctions will be lifted. The Secretary of the Expediency Discernment Council also asked the government to provide "guarantees" that if the FATF-related bills are passed, the Financial Action Task Force will accept Iran's membership.

At the same time, it is clear from Mohsen Rezaei’s words that creating transparency regarding organized crime and combating the financing of terrorism is a serious problem for the Islamic Republic. He considered the approval of these two bills to be “taking away the diplomatic leverage of the Islamic Republic” and said: “If you took these two diplomatic levers from the country, have you received such a guarantee from the other side that would convince them that Iran should become a member of the FATF?”

Soleimani's assassination and FATF's "honesty"

Amid the controversy between the government and opponents of the Financial Action Task Force bills, Alireza Salimi, a representative from Mahallat and Delijan and an observer member of the 11th Majlis’ Presidium, said: “If FATF is honest, it should give us information about the assassination of Martyr Soleimani. Why don’t they give us information about the assassination of Martyr Fakhrizadeh? Why are they silent? They should give us information about the assassination of Martyr Beheshti.”

His words were met with a wave of ridicule in cyberspace and Iranian media with the hashtag "If Fatf is true."

The Asr-e-Iran newspaper wrote about Ali Salimi's remarks: "His perception of this international body that sets standards for combating money laundering and terrorist financing is that it has information related to assassinations."

Asr-e-Iran has examined his educational qualifications and vote count as one of the people who has passed the Guardian Council's screening and apparently should be qualified to represent the people, and has reached these conclusions: "He is not young. His degree also includes a doctorate in jurisprudence and the foundations of law," and his number of votes is a little over 10,000.

Asr-e-Iran wrote that such a person with this level of public information "is deciding the fate of our economy" and said, "The analyst is right when he says that with this kind of perspective and understanding, even our negative 5% economic growth is a masterpiece!"

Source: يٌ