Officials Outline Problems With FATF, INSTEX
TEHRAN (Dispatches) -- Secretary of Iran's Expediency Council Mohsen Rezaei says the EU needs to guarantee oil purchases from Iran if it wants the Islamic Republic to ratify the bills required by the FATF, the Financial Action Task Force.
Two of the four bills that would join Iran to international conventions against money laundering and funding terrorism and ensure transparency of the Islamic Republic's international financial transactions are stuck at the council, which is the arbiter between the Iranian Parliament and the constitutional oversight Guardian Council. The Expediency Council says it might reach a final decision on the bills by April.
Rezaei, one of the council members who opposes the ratification of the bills, said during a visit to Qom that "Europeans did everything to have the FATF bills ratified by Iran, but they failed to understand the council's logical demand for a guarantee" that would ensure the purchase of Iran's oil by Europe.
Rezaei said Europe has refrained from purchasing Iran's oil. "This enemy does not understand the language of diplomacy. It does not respect any commitment. So, we must not speak softly to such an enemy."
The FATF has given Tehran yet another four months starting from late February to join or face re-entry into the task force's black list.
Iran was on the FATF blacklist with North Korea until 2016, when the task force temporarily took it off the list.
Asadollah Abbasi, a member of the Iranian Parliament's Presidium, also criticized INSTEX, the financial mechanism Europe has established to help maintain limited trade relations.
"INSTEX is a means for Europe to find out about how Iran spends its oil revenue," he said in an interview with Tasnim news agency.
Abbasi said Iran's oil revenue will be deposited into INSTEX to enable Europe to oversee and control Iran's income. "INSTEX is not a good system for sending Iran's money to Europe to import food and medicine."
Chairman of the Parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh also said INSTEX does not meet all of Iran's expectations.
"Many European countries have still not joined INSTEX. Only Germany, France and UK are following the implementation of INSTEX," he told Mehr news agency.
Even those three countries, he said, have shown during the nuclear negotiations with Iran that they maintain "special relations with America."
Germany, France and Britain launched Instrument for Supporting Trade Exchanges (INSTEX) in January to purportedly facilitate business between Europe and Iran in the face of tough U.S. economic sanctions.
According to Iran's Central Bank governor in an interview with the official news agency IRNA, a mechanism similar to the EU’s INSTEX trade channel, to be called the Special Trade and Finance Institute (STFI), will be registered in Tehran possibly in April after the Iranian New Year holidays.
Two of the four bills that would join Iran to international conventions against money laundering and funding terrorism and ensure transparency of the Islamic Republic's international financial transactions are stuck at the council, which is the arbiter between the Iranian Parliament and the constitutional oversight Guardian Council. The Expediency Council says it might reach a final decision on the bills by April.
Rezaei, one of the council members who opposes the ratification of the bills, said during a visit to Qom that "Europeans did everything to have the FATF bills ratified by Iran, but they failed to understand the council's logical demand for a guarantee" that would ensure the purchase of Iran's oil by Europe.
Rezaei said Europe has refrained from purchasing Iran's oil. "This enemy does not understand the language of diplomacy. It does not respect any commitment. So, we must not speak softly to such an enemy."
The FATF has given Tehran yet another four months starting from late February to join or face re-entry into the task force's black list.
Iran was on the FATF blacklist with North Korea until 2016, when the task force temporarily took it off the list.
Asadollah Abbasi, a member of the Iranian Parliament's Presidium, also criticized INSTEX, the financial mechanism Europe has established to help maintain limited trade relations.
"INSTEX is a means for Europe to find out about how Iran spends its oil revenue," he said in an interview with Tasnim news agency.
Abbasi said Iran's oil revenue will be deposited into INSTEX to enable Europe to oversee and control Iran's income. "INSTEX is not a good system for sending Iran's money to Europe to import food and medicine."
Chairman of the Parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh also said INSTEX does not meet all of Iran's expectations.
"Many European countries have still not joined INSTEX. Only Germany, France and UK are following the implementation of INSTEX," he told Mehr news agency.
Even those three countries, he said, have shown during the nuclear negotiations with Iran that they maintain "special relations with America."
Germany, France and Britain launched Instrument for Supporting Trade Exchanges (INSTEX) in January to purportedly facilitate business between Europe and Iran in the face of tough U.S. economic sanctions.
According to Iran's Central Bank governor in an interview with the official news agency IRNA, a mechanism similar to the EU’s INSTEX trade channel, to be called the Special Trade and Finance Institute (STFI), will be registered in Tehran possibly in April after the Iranian New Year holidays.