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FATF bills to be passed if Europe gives guarantees: Official

18 Mar 2019 - 9:50


IRNA - A senior member of Iran’s Expediency Council said the EC will ratify the FATF and Palermo Convention if the Europeans give precise guarantees to Iran.

'The Europeans are going all the way out so Iran rapidly approves the FATF and the Palermo Convention,' Mohsen Rezai said on Sunday in the Iranian city of Qom, south of the capital Tehran.

'The Council’s logical words, however, are that the Iranian foreign ministry needs to get definitive guarantee and commitment from the Europeans so these conventions are passed,' he added.

The Council is debating two outstanding bills from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) action plan, namely Combating the Financing of Terrorism (CFT) and joining the Palermo Convention. The Expediency Council deals with sensitive matters when there is a dispute between the Iranian parliament and the Guardian Council that is in charge of overseeing legislative approvals.

The Expediency Council has decided to declare its final vote on the bills after the New Year holidays that will start on March 21 and will last until March 26.

Rezai stressed that the “Europeans expressed their commitment to buy crude oil from Iran and allow opening of banking branches and banking ties with Iran under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), but they don’t act on those commitments.”

Three European countries (Germany, France and the UK) are signatories to the international treaty on Iran nuclear program. The US the deal last May and reimposed sanctions on Tehran. The European trio, however, as well as Russia and China haven’t followed suit.

“The Islamic Iran took part in the JCPOA generously but the Americans have ignored their commitments and the Europeans haven’t lived up to their commitments,” he reiterated.

Rezai went on to call the US “enemy” that “doesn’t understand diplomatic language”. “That’s why there must not be any leniency against such an enemy,” he highlighted.

The Expediency Council member also reacted to comments by a European president “with a shaky position” who had threated of a war with Iran in case the nuclear deal weren’t signed. “You are damn wrong when you say such things,” he warned.


Story Code: 342704

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