by AP and Israel Hayom Staff
FATF suspends anti-money laundering measures against Iran for year despite concerns Iran uses financial sector to fund terrorist activities • American officials: FATF move has no effect on U.S. government's Iran-related sanctions.
The world's major economies on Friday
suspended anti-money laundering measures against Iran for a year despite
concerns that the Islamic republic uses its financial sector to protect
criminal enterprises and fund terrorist activity.
The announcement is another sign of progress
in Iran's campaign to return to the global economy after last year's
nuclear accord.
At a meeting in South Korea, the United States
and the 36 other members of the Financial Action Task Force welcomed
Iran's commitment to address shortcomings in how it tackles money
laundering and fights terrorism financing. The Iranians also are seeking
technical assistance in their efforts.
To protect the international financial system,
FATF members are supposed to apply countermeasures against any country
on the organization's blacklist. The body, which meets three times a
year, said banks should continue applying due diligence in business
relationships and transactions with Iranian individuals.
If Iran fails to make progress over the next
12 months, "FATF's call for countermeasures will be reimposed," it said
in a statement. "If Iran meets its commitments under the action plan in
that time period, the FATF will consider next steps."
The FATF urged Iran to fully address its deficiencies, "in particular those related to terrorist financing."
Friday's move will alarm some opponents of the Iran nuclear deal in the United States.
The seven-nation agreement promised Iran
significant relief from financial, trade and oil sanctions in exchange
for steps to curtail a program that many Western countries feared was
close to nuclear weapons capability. Iran has adhered to its commitments
thus far, according to the U.N. nuclear agency, but Republican and
other critics say the U.S. shouldn't be doing anything more than it is
required under the agreement.
In a letter to Treasury Secretary Jack Lew
last week, Rep. Ed Royce, the House Foreign Affairs Committee chairman,
urged the Obama administration to fight to keep Iran on the blacklist.
He said Iran's support for terrorism continues. The State Department
upheld that conclusion, too, in its latest terrorism report. Iran also
is backing Syrian President Bashar Assad's government in its civil war
with U.S.-backed and Arab-backed rebel groups.
"Hezbollah, Iran's leading terrorist proxy, is
currently playing a central role in Iran's effort to prop up the
murderous Assad regime in Syria," Royce wrote. "This U.S. designated
'Foreign Terrorist Organization' also has tens of thousands of rockets
pointed at Israel."
Tyler Cullis, legal fellow at the National
Iranian American Council, hailed the FATF's decision as recognition of
improvements in Iran's banking sector.
But Mark Dubowitz, an Iran sanctions expert at
the Washington-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies, played down
the practical effects of the change. "Global financial institutions
understand that this illicit conduct, not empty expressions of intent,
must be changed before risking business with Iran," he said.
American officials said Friday's announcement
in Busan, South Korea, has no effect on the U.S. government's
Iran-related sanctions.
Also Friday, the FATF maintained its call for financial
institutions to apply countermeasures on North Korea and uphold U.N.
Security Council sanctions against the communist government. It cited
the threat posed by North Korea's "illicit activities related to the
proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and its financing."
AP and Israel Hayom Staff
Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=34585
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