In late June, FAFT decided to keep Iran on its blacklist of high-risk countries, as under the current regime’s leadership, Iran is considered a Non-Cooperative Country or Territory.  Iran’s inclusion on the Non-Cooperative Country or Territory (NCCT) list means that the regime is allowed to engage in business transactions with only a limited number of small banks, in only a few countries. These banks “demand exorbitant costs to cover their risks, which will directly impact exports and imports”.

FATF issued a public statement on February 24, 2017, stating on their website, “In June 2016, the FATF welcomed Iran’s adoption of, and high-level political commitment to, an Action Plan to address its strategic AML/CFT deficiencies, and its decision to seek technical assistance in the implementation of the Action Plan. Accordingly, in June 2016, the FATF suspended counter-measures for twelve months in order to monitor Iran’s progress in implementing the Action Plan. If the FATF determines that Iran has not demonstrated sufficient progress in implementing the Action Plan at the end of that period, FATF’s call for counter-measures will be re-imposed. If Iran meets its commitments under the Action Plan in that time period, the FATF will consider next steps in this regard.”

“Iran will remain on the FATF Public Statement until the full Action Plan has been completed. Until Iran implements the measures required to address the deficiencies identified in the Action Plan, the FATF will remain concerned with the terrorist financing risk emanating from Iran and the threat this poses to the international financial system.”

“The FATF, therefore, calls on its members and urges all jurisdictions to continue to advise their financial institutions to apply enhanced due diligence to business relationships and transactions with natural and legal persons from Iran, consistent with FATF Recommendation 19. The FATF urges Iran to fully address its AML/CFT deficiencies, in particular those related to terrorist financing.”