How Khamenei's decisions not to join the FATF have deprived Iran of the coronavirus vaccine

While some countries have begun coronavirus vaccinations and many have confirmed the purchase of this vaccine, the decisions of the Islamic Republic authorities not to fully join the Financial Action Task Force (FATF ) to combat money laundering and terrorist financing are making it difficult for Iran to purchase the vaccine.

On Monday, Ali Motahari, a former member of the Islamic Consultative Assembly, posted a message on Twitter saying that due to the Islamic Republic of Iran being blacklisted by the FATF, Iranian authorities were unable to transfer Iran's $50 million quota of the World Health Organization's coronavirus vaccine for eight million Iranians, and Iran's quota has been lost. A day later, on Tuesday, January 2, the Iranian government spokesman, while tacitly confirming Ali Motahari's account, said that not joining the FATF had shown its effects in financial transactions, and claimed that there were problems in transferring money to the World Health Organization, but that Iran's contract with the World Health Organization was still valid. Of course, he admitted that the Iranian government has not yet finalized the purchase of the vaccine, even in limited quantities.

Vague and contradictory statements by Islamic Republic officials about the purchase of the coronavirus vaccine, sometimes citing sanctions as an excuse for not purchasing the vaccine, have sparked protests among Iranian Twitter users in recent days. It has now become clear that the failure to join the FATF was the main problem in halting the vaccine purchase process.

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) , established in 1989, compiles a list of countries that have provided financial support to terrorist groups and lack anti-money laundering measures.

Iran will not join this international treaty because of the IRGC.

So far, 194 countries around the world have joined this working group by approving its financial laws and regulations, but the Islamic Republic of Iran, through decisions of institutions appointed by the Leader of the Islamic Republic, did not approve joining the two conventions intended by the FATF (the International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism and the United Nations Convention for the Fight against Transnational Organized Crime) and remained on the working group's blacklist.

The Islamic Republic of Iran approved two other bills requested by the FATF , the bills amending the law on combating the financing of terrorism and the law on combating money laundering. However, concerns about the process of transferring money by the Revolutionary Guard Corps for the military force's foreign actions, as well as the opposition of the Leader of the Islamic Republic and his appointees in the Guardian Council and the Expediency Council, caused Iran to suspend its accession to the two aforementioned conventions.

Khamenei's role in opposing this international treaty

In 2018, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei implicitly called for the bills to join these conventions to be shelved and asked the parliament to "independently" enact its own laws on money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism.

He later delegated the matter to the relevant agencies, effectively handing over the responsibility of rejecting these bills to his appointees in the Guardian Council and the Expediency Discernment Council. The Guardian Council opposed the passage of these bills, and the Expediency Discernment Council failed to reach a consensus after more than a year.

Over the years, Islamic Republic officials have repeatedly stated that US sanctions are preventing the purchase of medicine and essential goods needed by the people, and the United States has repeatedly stated explicitly that these items are not subject to sanctions. It has now become clear that the decision of the Islamic Republic's Supreme Leader's appointees not to join the FATF has been the main obstacle to many of Iran's vital purchases from other countries.

Last year, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, in response to Iran's failure to join the FATF and remaining on the blacklist, said: "Iran has shown that it is deliberately refusing to cooperate on combating money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism so that its economy does not enjoy any transparency and can continue to export terrorism."

He had warned that if Iran did not join the Palermo Convention and the Convention on the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism, it would face consequences.

Source: Voice of America