FATF blacklist won’t affect Iran’s foreign trade, forex market stability

The governor of Central Bank of Iran (CBI) says blacklisting Iran by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is not going to cause any problem for the country’s foreign trade and stability of foreign currency market.

During multiple periods of sanctions and maximum pressure, our monetary and financial system has become able to establish unsanctionable links with the world's monetary and financial system outside the framework of the FATF, and this has largely curbed the U.S.’s threats and hostility,” Abdolnaser Hemmati wrote in an Instagram post on Friday.

He noted that, once again, the U.S. and the Israeli regime have shown their animosity against Iranians in the form of opposing FATF experts which have constantly admitted to Iran’s positive steps to comply with its commitments regarding money-laundering and the financing of terrorism.

These politically-driven behaviors and non-technical excuses have been going on for three years by the U.S. representative and its allies, and it has taken various forms like attempts to disrupt expert reports, he stressed.

“I can assure our nation that it will have no impact on Iran’s foreign trade and the stability of forex rate in the country”, Hemmati emphasized.

The Paris-based Financial Action Task Force (FATF) on Friday placed Iran on its blacklist after Iran refused to comply with the watchdog’s requirements.

Opposition to join the FATF grew after the U.S. abrogated the 2015 nuclear deal and imposed the harshest ever sanctions in history against Iran.

The FATF appeared to leave the door ajar for Iran saying “countries should also be able to apply countermeasures independently of any call by the FATF to do so.”

The United States, the Zionist regime and Saudi Arabia had made great efforts to pressure the international body to blacklist Iran.

source: Tehran Times