He made the remarks while talking to reporters on the sidelines of an international conference on "Unilateralism and International Law" started in Tehran on Monday morning.
Iran is completely against such a decision because it is totally political, Zarif stressed.
The FATF based in Paris, France, decided recently to give Iran a four-month deadline until February 2020.
To join FATF, Iranian government has sent four related bills including country’s accession to CFT and Palermo conventions to Majlis (Parliament). The lawmakers approved the bills but the approval was not confirmed by the Guardian Council whose key duty is to interpret the Islamic Republic’s Constitution. The Expediency Council is charged with deciding whether or not a law forwarded by Majlis to it after changes demanded by Guardian Council complies with regulations.
Commenting on the issue, Zarif underlined that Iran, based on its own internal laws, regards the fight against money laundering as a necessity but still does not ratify the FATF's recent decision on Iran.
Although Iran is against the FATF decision, it makes sure to take all necessary measures to combat money laundering and financial support for terrorism with the objective of safeguarding its own national interests, the foreign minister stressed.
Zarif appreciated the Iranian government's anti-money laundering measures.
According to Article 123 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran, President Rouhani forwarded the Act of Amendment to the Law of Anti Money Laundering to the Judicial Branch and the Ministry of Economic Affairs of Finance, according to president.ir report in Jan, 2019.
Financial Action Task Force (FATF) introduces itself as an inter-governmental body established in 1989 by the Ministers of its Member jurisdictions. 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. The FATF is, therefore, a “policy-making body” which works to generate the necessary political will to bring about national legislative and regulatory reforms in these areas.
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