WANA (Aug 08) – Iran’s Financial Intelligence Center announced that the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has, for the first time in six years, formally invited the head of Iran’s Financial Intelligence Unit to participate in direct negotiations.

 

The invitation follows Iran’s recent presentation of its anti–money laundering and counter–terrorism financing measures to FATF’s regional group, as well as the ratification of the Palermo Convention by the Expediency Council.

 

According to the statement, FATF’s secretariat has officially invited Hadi Khani, Secretary of the High Council for the Prevention and Combating of Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing, to attend the talks.

 

The negotiations are aimed at advancing the normalization of Iran’s case, suspending FATF’s countermeasures, and removing Iran from the high-risk “blacklist” after nearly six years. The meeting will take place in Madrid, Spain.

 

The Palermo Convention, adopted by the UN in 2000, was approved by Iran’s Expediency Council earlier this year. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been instructed to deposit the instrument of ratification with the UN Treaty Section.

 

Work on ratifying the CFT (Combating the Financing of Terrorism) convention — seen as complementary to the Palermo Convention — is ongoing.

 

On Tuesday, August 5, 2025, Iran’s Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Saeed Iravani, wrote to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres stating that, in accordance with the government’s directive, Iran was sending its ratification of the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, adopted on November 15, 2000. The document had been formally signed by Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi on July 30, 2025, for deposit with the UN.

 

Iran originally signed the Palermo Convention on December 12, 2000. The Iranian Parliament approved the law for accession to the convention in 2017, but the Guardian Council raised objections.

 

After years of review, the Expediency Council passed the measure on May 14, 2025. The Speaker of Parliament officially communicated the law to the president for implementation on May 21, 2025, under Article 123 of Iran’s Constitution.

 

The Palermo Convention is one of four international conventions emphasized by FATF. Iran had previously joined two of the other conventions, but not CFT or Palermo.

 

Experts argue that ratifying the CFT would be a crucial step in building trust over Iran’s financial transparency, and that completing accession to all four FATF-recommended conventions would help facilitate closer engagement with the body and expand Iran’s international economic ties.

WANA - FATF

FATF. Social media/ WANA News Agency