RNA – Speaking at a conference on the subject of “Denying Colonial Conventions” held at Qom’s Ma’soumiyeh Seminary, Hujjat al-Islam Mojtaba Zonnour, a member of the National Security and Foreign Policy Committee of the Islamic Consultative Assembly, referred the difference between the Islamic Republic of Iran and other members of the Financial Action Task Force [FATF] convention and stated, “We must accept the difference between the Islamic Republic and other countries, so the representatives can give a negative vote to the ratification of the FATF convention, while having an understanding of this difference.”
The representative of the people of Qom in the Islamic Consultative Assembly said that the representatives who voted to ratify the FATF have the right to explain Iran’s conditions in response to its problems and dangers for the country and said, “It must be noted that only in regard to four terms were our conditions accepted, while we have set seven conditions for this convention.”
He noted, “Also, the conditions must not be contrary to the spirit of the convention and the United Nations Vienna Convention of 1967. While contrary and in contradiction to the spirit of the same convention, the member states of that convention must also not object to our terms. This is while 12 countries have pre-empted it and before ratifying the FATF, have protested our possible conditions and Saudi Arabia is basically enough to convince other countries.”
In response to the claim that 180 countries have become members of the convention and that there is no difference between them and Iran, Hujjat al-Islam Zonnour said, “It’s clear that these individuals didn’t understand the difference between implementation and membership. The members are the 37 countries of the convention and the rest have agreed to implement the 49 recommendations of the FATF.”
His Eminence emphasized that the most important of all the clauses of the FATF is the clause that defines terrorism and said, “The International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism (CFT) doesn’t accept our definition and doesn’t provide us with a definition of terrorism.”
He continued, “It must be noted that the backbone of Daesh, which is the greatest terrorist and Takfiri group in the region, is United States. Sometimes Daesh has convoys which contain up to 2,000 vehicles in the region. Can it be said that the Americans didn’t see them in order to destroy them?”
Hujjat al-Islam Zonnour added, “Whenever Daesh is suffering a difficulty, the Americans come to their assistance and Iran is the biggest victim of terrorism and has given 16,800 martyrs, including the country’s first prime minister [Mohammad-Ali Rajaei] and has suffered from terrorist attacks against the people in the alleys and markets, the bombing of the Friday prayers and street bombs.”
Stressing that determining what is considered as a terrorist attack isn’t with Iran, he stated, “If the Planning and Budget Organization ratifies funding for both the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the members of parliament, it’s against the FATF. A more important point is that we want to bypass the sanctions and fundamentally, relying on the FATF isn’t inclined to bypassing the sanctions.”
Rasa News Agency
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