Iran Press/ Europe: FATF said it had decided to continue suspending counter-measures, which can go as far as limiting or even banning transactions with a country, according to a Reuters report.
“We expect Iran to move swiftly to implement the commitments that it undertook at a high level so long ago,” said Marshall Billingslea, the U.S. assistant Treasury Secretary for terrorist financing, after chairing an FATF meeting.
“In line with that, we expect that it will have adopted all of these measures by February. If by February 2019 Iran has not yet done so, then we will take further steps,” he said.
Iran’s parliament approved some new measures against funding terrorism earlier this month. But FATF said that it could only consider fully enacted legislation.
Related: Majlis votes to approve bill to join Combating the Financing of Terrorism (CFT)
Members of FATF had already given Tehran until this month to bring its laws against money-laundering and funding of terrorism in line with its guidelines.
Britain, France and Germany are trying to keep some financial channels open to Iran after the United States pulled out of a 2015 nuclear deal in May and re-imposed sanctions.
Related: EU seeks to bypass US sanctions on Iran with new payments channel
What is FATF?
Individuals and organizations who finance terrorism need to conceal how the money will be used and where it originated. The funds may come from legal sources, such as the US government, or the government of Saudi Arabia, or the government of United Arab Emirates, or the funds may come from illegal sources, such as drug trafficking (in Afghanistan) and government corruption. The funds may also come from an illegal source but appear to come from a legal source through money laundering. Money laundering and terrorism financing are often linked.
The Financial Action Task Force (FATF), is an intergovernmental organization founded in 1989 on the initiative of the G7 to develop policies to combat money laundering. In 2001 its mandate expanded to include terrorism financing.
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