Iran faces global anti-terrorism financing watchdog blacklist: Report

A global dirty money watchdog on Friday placed Iran on its blacklist after the country failed to comply with international anti-terrorism financing norms. The decision comes after more than three years of warnings from the Paris-based Financial Action Task Force (FATF) urging Tehran to enact terrorist financing conventions.

However, the FATF appeared to leave the door ajar for Iran saying “countries should also be able to apply countermeasures independently of any call by the FATF to do so.”

US sanctions have crippled Iran’s economy, slashing its oil exports and increasingly isolating it from the international financial system.

Iran’s leaders have been divided over complying with the FATF. Supporters say it could ease foreign trade with Europe and Asia when the country’s economy is targeted by US penalties aimed at its isolation.

Hardline opponents argue that passing legislation toward joining the FATF could hamper Iran’s support for its allies, including Lebanon’s Hezbollah. Iran’s action plan to meet with the FATF requirements, implemented in 2016, expired in January 2018.

Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif this week appeared resigned to the FATF blacklisting, accusing the US using its maximum pressure campaign to exert influence at the FATF.