Global watchdog puts Iran back on blacklist
A multinational financial crimes watchdog on Friday faulted Iran for not doing enough to counter a "terrorist financing risk" and announced the reinstatement of punitive measures against the country.
In a statement issued after a meeting in Paris, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) said it was rescinding a suspension of the measures, granted in 2016, to give Tehran time to work on reforms.
The FATF "fully lifts the suspension of counter-measures" it said, citing Iran's failure to enact the UN's 2001 Palermo Convention against organised crime and the Terrorist Financing Convention.
It also urged FATF member states and "all jurisdictions to apply effective counter-measures".
Iran is alone with North Korea on an FATF blacklist, which severely restricts their access to loans and international aid. The agency has 37 nations and two regional organisations as members.
The watchdog also raised the pressure on Pakistan, threatening to put it on its blacklist unless the government completes an anti-terror financing action plan by June.
"Otherwise, should significant and sustainable progress especially in prosecuting and penalising terrorism financing not be made... the FATF will take action," the statement said.
This could include calling on its members to advise their financial institutions "to give special attention to business relations and transactions with Pakistan," a measure that could in effect limit its access to the global banking system.
Regarding North Korea, the FATF expressed "serious concerns with the threat posed by the DPRK's illicit activities related to the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction."
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