Iranian lawmakers opposing the government's policies, were able on Sunday to paralyze a draft-law on Iran’s accession to the Convention for the Suppression of Financing of Terrorism (CFT) with 138 voting to postpone discussions on the issue for two months and 103 rejecting such a move.
Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi warned of the new sanctions on Iran if it refused to join the CFT, while President of the Economic Committee in Parliament Gholamreza Tajgardoon hinted that the postponement comes as part of Iranian pressure in the negotiations to keep the 2015 nuclear agreement after the US withdrawal.
Tajgardoon said that the decision will provide the administration with an opportunity to announce to Europe that it should give essential guarantees to preserve the nuclear deal.
The dispute over Iran's accession to the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) dates back to the first months of Iran's announcement of the agreement with the 5 + 1 group on its nuclear program. After a long debate between the government and the conservative camp, including Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), the government presented the draft to parliament in November.
Prior to the elections, Speaker Ali Larijani supported the position of the government and the reformist deputies to Iran's accession to the CFT. On Sunday, he protested the move of conservative deputies to sign a document against the draft.
In March, FATF granted Iran four months to pass laws on terrorism financing and money laundering.
Three weeks ago, the Foreign Policy and National Security Committee called on Iran's national security adviser Ali Shamkhani and Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif to answer deputies' questions in a closed session.
Shamkhani's comments provoked controversy, but he denied reports from deputies that Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei doesn't oppose the draft-law.
Spokesman of Foreign Policy and National Security Committee said members of the committee agreed conditionally to put the draft for a public vote.
According to the government, the aim of joining FATF agreement is to "get Iran out of FATF's blacklist."
Araqchi said in his statement at the parliament that the country’s interests will be protected if it joins the CFT, indicating that in this critical situation, "it will serve the country’s national interests to join this convention."
“This very parliament was the victim of ISIS terrorism this time last year... Without international cooperation and joining international conventions, it is impossible to confront it,” said Aragchi.
For his part, Iran's ambassador to the UK and member of the nuclear negotiating team Hamid Baeidinejad, stated that the debate in the Iranian parliament was not about FATF agreement, adding that the project is about Iran's accession to the CFT to finance terrorism.
Over the past two years, FATF kept Iran on its blacklist but has stopped the measures against Tehran as part of attempts to encourage it to enforce international resolutions.
Two weeks ago, the United States blacklisted head of Iran's Central Bank, Valiollah Seif and US Treasury Department accused him of directly financing terrorism.
Head of the parliamentary economic committee said that the postponement of discussions on Iran joining CFT aims to send a message to the European countries on the ongoing negotiations on the nuclear agreement.
Parliament is willing to pass the new legislation in case Iran is convinced of the results of the negotiations, the Islamic Consultative Assembly News Agency quoted him as saying.
