Iran rejects law banning terrorist financing
JEDDAH: Iran’s powerful Guardian Council on Sunday rejected legislation
to join the UN convention against terrorist financing, just a few hours
before the reintroduction of tough US sanctions on Tehran’s oil trade
and banking sector.
Joining the convention is crucial to Iran’s hopes of obtaining European
support in evading the sanctions, which came into effect at midnight on
Sunday. But conservative hawks on the council fear it would prevent them
from funding groups such as Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza, by
forcing greater financial transparency.
The council said aspects of the bill were against Islamic law and the
constitution and sent it back to Parliament for revision. The
legislation “has flaws and ambiguities,” spokesman Abbas Ali Kadkhodaie
said.
The bill, narrowly passed by Parliament last month, is one of four
proposed by President Hassan Rouhani’s government to meet demands set by
the international Financial Action Task Force (FATF), which monitors
countries’ efforts to tackle money-laundering and terrorist financing.
Rouhani’s government says the law is vital after US President Donald
Trump withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal and reimposed sanctions. The
other parties to the deal — Britain, France, Germany, China and Russia —
have demanded that Iran accede to the FATF if it wants to maintain
trade.
“Neither I nor the president can guarantee that all problems will go
away if we join the UN convention, but I guarantee that not joining will
provide the US with more excuses to increase our problems,” Iran’s
Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said during the parliamentary
debate last month.
Previous legislation on money-laundering and organized crime has also
been delayed by higher authorities, including the Guardian Council,
after being approved by Parliament.
The council is made up of six clerics appointed by supreme leader
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and six lawyers appointed by the judiciary.
Iran’s failure to pass the FATF “is only symptomatic of the larger issue
of Iran’s support for extremist and terrorist groups and
organizations,” the security analyst Dr. Ted Karasik told Arab News.
“The legislation is good for domestic consumption by particular groups of officials, but the whole process is of course a sham.
“Its funding for terrorist militias and its acts of espionage make Iran,
and specifically the Quds Force, simply unqualified for FATF status.”
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