TEHRAN (Dispatches) – The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) does not serve Iran’s national interest, head of the Research Center of the Expediency Council Ali-Akbar Velayati said on Sunday.
 He made the remarks on the sidelines of his meeting with UN Undersecretary-General and Emergency Relief Coordinator Stephen O’Brien here.
 He called on Iranian officials to challenge the FATF, saying that the financial action task force runs counter to national sovereignty of the government.
 "We do not have to accept international financial institutions impose unfair restrictions on the officials of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” he said.
 "The goal of the international financial institutions is to deprive Iran of free access to financial and economic facilities and Iranian economic activities. Iran should not observe such a restriction,” he added.
 Velayati said sanctions against Khatam al-Anbia or the Quds relief aid agency are because they have been a forerunner in the campaign against Zionism and its supporters.
 "However, sanctions cannot stop the Quds relief aid agency or Khatam al-Anbia or other organizations working for the glory of Islam.”
 Velayati said due to the sanctions, Iranian organs inside and outside the country in the region, Palestine and Lebanon will not stop their campaign against terrorism.
 "For instance, if Hezbollah is subjected to sanctions, they will not stop its struggle.”  
 "If the resistance continues, the enemies will realize that sanctions are useless and those resisting will eventually win,” Velayati said.
 The Financial Action Task Force is an inter-governmental body established in 1989 by the Ministers of its Member jurisdictions.
 On the surface, the objectives of the FATF are to set standards and promote effective implementation of legal, regulatory and operational measures for combating money laundering, terrorist financing and other related threats to the integrity of the international financial system.
 But a number of Iranian officials, lawmakers and politicians have hit at the group’s efforts to restrict banking operations inside Iran, saying the bid amounts to "capitulation.”