Khamenei Responds to Ministers’ Letter Regarding Four Bills

According to the chief of staff of Rouhani, the leader of the Islamic Republic has responded to a letter from several ministers requesting acceleration in the approval process of bills to combat money laundering and terrorism financing. Vaezi said: “The leader provided very good guidance.”

Mahmoud Vaezi, chief of staff of the Iranian presidency, on Wednesday, the third of Bahman (January 23), confirmed the sending of a letter from several ministers of the Rouhani government to the leader of the Islamic Republic regarding acceleration in the approval process of bills to combat money laundering and terrorism financing, and announced Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s response to this letter.

The chief of staff of Hassan Rouhani, without disclosing details of Khamenei’s response to the ministers’ letter, only said that the leader of the Islamic Republic “provided very good guidance in his response.”]

Mahmoud Vaezi considered the drafting of a letter reportedly written by four members of the cabinet of the twelfth government to Khamenei as a normal matter and said: “In the eleventh and twelfth governments, the communication between ministers and cabinet members with the office of the supreme leader has been very close. When I was minister of communications, I sent multiple letters to the office of the supreme leader in which I submitted reports and received guidance from him.”

According to ISNA, Vaezi added: “We have had letters with three or four signatures before, which is a normal procedure and nothing new has happened, and the letter sent two weeks ago was written in the Supreme Council [to Combat] Money Laundering. In this council, 8 members of the cabinet are members, and issues that may arise in the future due to non-approval of the four bills and limitations that are created in this field are reviewed.”

“Very Good” Guidance from the Leader

Stating that “the friends’ decision was for us to report the summary of the session to the office of the supreme leader,” the chief of staff of Rouhani said: “This happened and this was done and there was no special issue and the leader showed kindness and provided a response to the letter, so far a normal procedure has been followed. The leader also provided very good guidance in his response, and that’s why this letter was written.”

Alireza Rahimi, a member of the Iranian parliament’s presidium, said last Monday that a number of Rouhani’s ministers in a letter to the leader of the Islamic Republic had requested acceleration in the review of two bills known as the Palermo Convention and CFT in the Expediency Discernment Council.

Ali Motahari, the second deputy speaker of the Iranian parliament, also said yesterday that ministers in their letter addressed to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei requested the approval of these bills before the deadline set by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) for Iran.

Mohammad Shariatmadari, Iran’s minister of labor, also, referring to the fact that he himself is not among the signatories of the letter, said that the aforementioned bills have “special sensitivity” and the government wishes them to be approved “within this limited opportunity.”

Hassan Rouhani, the president of Iran, today in a cabinet meeting, while emphasizing the “special importance” of bills to combat money laundering and terrorism financing, called for “other institutions” as well as the government and parliament to take action for the final approval of these bills.

The “PANA” news agency had previously reported that the ministers of foreign affairs, oil, industry and mines, labor and social welfare, roads and urban development, energy, and agriculture jihad were the signatories of this letter. In addition to the labor minister, Bijan Namdar Zanganeh, Iran’s oil minister, also said that he is not among the signatories of the letter to Khamenei.

Some media outlets close to the hardline conservative faction had previously written that the senders of the letter threatened Khamenei that they would resign if the aforementioned bills were not approved.

Denying “Disagreement” Between Government and Leader

In another part of his remarks today, Rouhani’s chief of staff, expressing regret over “the way news has been created and atmospheres have been set in this regard,” in response to this report said: “This distancing between everyone and sowing discord within the cabinet and the claim that there is disagreement between the leader’s office and the government is a lie. There has been no mention of resignation whatsoever, nor any other issue. Our relations with the office of the supreme leader are very cordial, and therefore I ask the media not to pay attention to such matters.”

Vaezi’s remarks on this issue ended with a threatening tone: “In the presidential office, we are following up on this matter to clarify which media outlet first raised such a matter, and some news agencies, citing this baseless report, have expanded it.”

Hassan Rouhani, shortly before the announcement of Khamenei’s response to his ministers’ letter, said: “Fortunately, the government and parliament, with cooperation, have taken good measures regarding the four bills, and we hope that other institutions that need to take measures in this field in the final stages will work with greater speed so that we can pass these bills and disappoint this hope of America and neutralize their conspiracy in the financial and banking matter.”

“Friends of Iran are Waiting”

The head of the twelfth government also said that “today all friends” of the Islamic Republic in the region and the world are “waiting” for the approval of these bills in Iran.

Earlier, some members and supporters of the Rouhani government had said that if the bills to combat money laundering and terrorism financing are not approved, the Islamic Republic will face problems not only with member states of the European Union that consider such legislation a condition for continuing their dealings with Iran, but also with countries such as Russia and China.

Following the Islamic Consultative Assembly’s “insistence” on January 20 on its previous resolution regarding Iran’s accession to the Convention on the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism (CFT), it was agreed that the review of this bill would be placed on the agenda of the Expediency Discernment Council. On January 19, this council also rejected the bill on Iran’s accession to the Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, known as the Palermo Convention.

Some members of the Expediency Discernment Council have announced the review of these two bills in the coming days. Two other bills related to FATF, namely the bill to amend the law against terrorism financing and the bill to amend the law against money laundering, have previously been approved by the Expediency Discernment Council and the Guardian Council.

The approval of the four bills related to FATF is necessary for Iran’s definitive removal from the “blacklist” of the Financial Action Task Force and to facilitate international banking transactions of the Islamic Republic. The European Union has also considered the implementation of laws against money laundering and terrorism financing in Iran as a requirement for cooperation with the Islamic Republic to save the JCPOA.

The Financial Action Task Force extended Iran’s suspension from its blacklist for another four months on September 18. Accordingly, the Islamic Republic has until the end of this month, Bahman, to pass the four bills requested by the Financial Action Task Force. The creation of “international standards” to combat money laundering and terrorism financing in the world is one of the main duties of this intergovernmental organization.

Source: DW