After Iran’s president, Hassan Rouhani, requested the regime’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, to have the Expediency Discernment Council reconsider the relevant bills, claiming that in case of failure to implement it, it would stop trade with the international community.
The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), and the People’s Mujahedin of Iran (PMOI / MEK Iran), reported that the regime’s participation in international conferences related to the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has been a major source of debate in Iran’s factional feuding.
Khamenei wrote to the Expediency Council, requesting the matter to be reconsidered. The situation was aggravated by a statement by 205 members of parliament opposing the FATF. One amongst them told parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf in a meeting on 2 March. “Of course, this is the opinion of the signatories of the statement, not the opinion of the parliament.”
On 3 March, Rouhani alerted the Expediency Discernment Council of the social repercussions of not joining the FATF, claiming, “But if we do not join, and if these bills are not implemented, explain how much it costs anyway and who should bear this cost.”
Additionally, the former head of the regime’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs spoke of the regime’s global isolation on 2 March in an interview with the state-run daily Setareh-e-Sobh, “They have thrown the ball in the system’s court, and the more the system reacts negatively, the more the international community will turn to the United States.”
On 3 March, A government analyst admitted the regime’s weak roots and warned against an inevitable uprising: “They have thrown the ball in the system’s court, and the more the system reacts negatively, the more the international community will turn to the United States.”
Despite this warning and the willingness of some regime officials to join the FATF, some revealed the truth about the regime’s reluctance to join the organization.
Accepting these bills, according to Mesbahi Moghaddam, would mean cutting off the funding for the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC), “The funding of the IRGC is considered as terrorist financing by the US, so in those circumstances, we must also stop supporting the IRGC.”
Ali Nikzad, a former minister and member of Parliament, posted on Twitter, according to State-run daily Hamshahri on 3 March, “If we accept the FATF, it means exposing ways to circumvent sanctions.”
“If all parties return to the JCPOA (2015 Iran nuclear deal), if Iran does not accept the FATF, will not be able to work with the world banking system. Maybe even 2nd and 3rd tier European banks will not work with us. It seems that not only the top Chinese banks do not work with us today, but also the Chinese sub-banks are willing to cooperate with us at exorbitant costs.”
This is the situation in which the government finds itself. This comes at a time when the government is facing a big internal crisis as a result of public anger, corruption, and wrong policies. A bomb that could explode at any moment.
MEK Iran (follow them on Twitter and Facebook)
and People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran – MEK IRAN – YouTube
