WANA (Feb 14) – The Public Relations Office of Iran’s Financial Intelligence Center has issued a statement outlining the latest status of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s case at the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and the results of its recent plenary meeting held from February 11 to 13 in Mexico City.
According to the statement, following the approval of the Palermo and CFT conventions by Iran’s Expediency Council and the subsequent adoption of amended anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing regulations by the Cabinet, the necessary documentation was prepared to report progress on three of the remaining 24 items in Iran’s FATF Action Plan.
The Financial Intelligence Center submitted two progress reports and a supplementary report during periodic FATF meetings in Paris (October) and Mexico City (February), seeking to steer discussions toward technical and legal matters.
Iranian representatives argued for the effective domestic implementation of the Palermo and CFT conventions despite ten reservations attached to them, and highlighted strengthened oversight under the amended anti-money laundering regulations.
Following exchanges of documentation and more than 20 hours of discussions between the Iranian delegation and FATF members, five of the ten reservations were accepted.
As a result, implementation of 11 out of 17 articles related to FATF recommendations under the CFT convention and 10 out of 21 articles under the Palermo Convention were recognized by consensus, leading to an update of Iran’s progress report. Additionally, eight remaining Action Plan items were upgraded from “pending” to “partially addressed.”
The statement said this experience demonstrated that, through technical and legal arguments and effective management of negotiations, the remaining Action Plan items could also be resolved and, despite opposition from certain countries, pave the way for Iran’s removal from the FATF blacklist.
However, the center noted that references in UN resolutions linked to the “snapback mechanism” and FATF’s role in implementing UN sanctions against Iran, along with the rejection of some of Iran’s reservations as overly broad or unrelated, and delays in implementing other Action Plan items, provided grounds for certain members to pressure the FATF Secretariat to amend the public statement.
Despite unprecedented support from 11 of the 39 FATF members for Iran’s anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing efforts—breaking previous unanimous opposition—the public statement was revised at the Paris and Mexico City meetings. At the Mexico session, 28 of 39 members endorsed new countermeasures against Iran, citing incomplete implementation of the Action Plan.
The new measures call on all countries and jurisdictions to:
Refrain from authorizing the establishment of branches, subsidiaries, or representative offices of Iranian financial institutions and virtual asset service providers.
Prohibit the establishment of branches or representative offices of foreign financial institutions and virtual asset service providers in Iran.
Restrict business relationships or financial transactions, including cryptocurrency transactions, involving Iran or Iranian-linked entities.
Apply enhanced scrutiny to funds linked to Iran—including humanitarian aid, food, healthcare services, and embassy expenses—for potential links to terrorist financing or proliferation financing, and adopt additional countermeasures if necessary.
The Financial Intelligence Center expressed strong concern over delays by domestic authorities in implementing remaining Action Plan requirements, citing more than 200 official correspondences over the past three years without resolution.
Outstanding issues include revising reservations to the conventions, Iran’s membership in a regional anti-money laundering body, removing certain exemptions from counter-terrorist financing laws, and issuing procedures for identifying and freezing assets of individuals and groups listed under UN Security Council Resolution 1267.
The center warned that continued delays could undermine the impact of major steps already taken, including the approval of the Palermo and CFT conventions and amended regulations, and could lead to expanded countermeasures and additional financial and economic pressure beyond existing unilateral sanctions.
It emphasized that effective management of Iran’s case at the FATF requires immediate, coordinated decisions consistent with domestic legal obligations and accepted international commitments.