Iran Sets Conditions for Joining Terror Finance Taskforce

Iran is not ready to compromise on the issues of intelligence sharing, sanctions and definitions of terrorist groups in order to join an international task force against terror financing, a minister said Tuesday.

Iran, along with North Korea, is blacklisted by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and aims to be removed from "high risk and non-cooperative" status, even if it does not obtain full membership.

Economy Minister Ali Tayebnia said Iran is not obliged to accept all the conditions put forward by the task force.

But it will implement some of the recommendations in an Action Plan developed with the FATF in order to be upgraded to either a fully cooperating or partially cooperating country, he added.

"We will not allow any international body to access our intelligence. We will not accept definitions and examples of terrorism from any authority except the UN Security Council," Tayebnia told a parliamentary session.

"And we will not recognise international sanctions on revolutionary individuals and institutions within Iranian territory."

The FATF, which was created in 1989, aims to clean up the international financial system by encouraging member countries or those wishing to join to adopt legislation against money laundering and the financing of terrorism.

The task force said after its annual meeting in Paris in February that it remained "exceptionally concerned about Iran's failure to address the risk of terrorist financing and the serious threat this poses to the integrity of the international financial system".

In June, after Tehran announced it was willing to join the FATF, the task force suspended countermeasures on the Islamic republic for 12 months to monitor Iran's progress in implementing the Action Plan.

Iran provides financial and military support to Lebanon's Shiite militia Hezbollah and Palestinian Islamist groups, considered by some Western countries as terrorist organisations.

Despite a nuclear deal with major powers that led to the lifting of some sanctions in January, the United States and the European Union still impose penalties against Iran over its support for armed movements, ballistic missile programme and human rights record.

Washington has sanctions against 200 Iranian individuals and institutions, including Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards, defence and intelligence ministries, airlines and banks.

Iran's Supreme Council of National Security, which decides on major issues related to the country's security, has put forward five conditions for joining the FATF but they have not been publically disclosed.

Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has the final say on all matters of state in Iran.