Iran's high legislative body rejects bill on joining UN Combating Financing of Terrorism convention

Iran's high legislative body on Sunday rejected the bill on joining the UN Combating the Financing of Terrorism (CFT) convention, official IRNA news agency reported.

The CFT bill, approved earlier by Iran's parliament, is against the religious law and the Constitution while being ambiguous, Abbas Ali Kadkhodaee, spokesman for Guardian Council of Constitution, was quoted as saying.

The council has sent back the bill to the parliament for corrections, he said.

On Oct. 7, Iranian lawmakers approved a bill on Iran's accession to CFT standards set by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), an inter-governmental body established in 1989 to combat money laundering, terrorist financing and threats to the integrity of the international financial system.

The FATF has set a deadline for Iran to complete reforms, which would "bring it into line with global norms or face consequences."

The CFT treaty was adopted by the UN General Assembly on Dec. 9, 1999, and is designed to criminalize financing of terrorism, in addition promoting cooperation to prevent and investigate the financing of such acts.

CFT also involves investigating, analyzing, deterring and preventing sources of funding for activities intended to achieve political, religious or ideological goals through violence and the threat of violence against civilians.