Abbas Ali Kadkhodaei, told reporters in a press conference on Saturday that the Council has acknowledged the amendment bill on combating the financing of terrorism (CFT) as consistent with the country’s Constitution and Sharia laws, and as such, the bill has been approved by the Council.
Iranian lawmakers on May 8, passed amendment bills to the existing Law of Anti-Money Laundering and Law of Combating Financing of Terrorism.
According to the official news outlet of the parliament, 139 of the 225 lawmakers present in the latest open session ratified the general outline of amendments to the AML/CFT laws that was formally submitted by President Hassan Rouhani on Nov. 20.
Being blacklisted by FATF since 2008, Iran has been trying to implement anti-money laundering (AML) and combating the financing of terrorism (CFT) standards, but FATF is still unsatisfied with the measures taken by the Islamic Republic so far.
The group, however, has extended a waiver for punitive measures against Iran due to the country’s crucial improvements in addressing its deficiencies in combating money laundering.
During a session in June, FATF called on Iran to implement amendments in full compliance with the group’s standards by October 2018, "otherwise, the FATF will decide upon appropriate and necessary actions at that time."
The original AML/CTF bill was ratified by Majlis and subsequently approved by the Guardians Council–the constitutional and Sharia watchdog–in March 2016 after it was rejected once and revised by the judiciary.
