I N T E R N A T I O N A L D A I L Y DECEMBER 23, 2019 IRAN IN FOCUS 3 Failure to join FATF would New envoy to Moscow meets Zarif before departure benefit enemies: ex-ambassador POLITICAL TEHRAN — Iran’s new ambassador to Mos- deskcow, Kazem Jalali, met with Foreign Minister POLITICAL TEHRAN — Ali Majedi, they will not be able to work with the Iranian Mohammad Javad Zarif on Sunday. deskIran’s former ambassador banks if Iran refuses to join the FATF and it The meeting came ahead of Jalali’s departure to start his to Germany, has said that a failure to join will not be beneficial for us,” Mousavi said, the mission in the Russian Federation. the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) will Hamshahri newspaper reported on Tuesday. The two sides discussed various aspects of bilateral relations limit Iran’s economic interaction and this is In an interview with ISNA published on with Russia and Jalali’s mission in Moscow, Iran Press reported. what the enemies want. Tuesday, political analyst Mehdi Motahar- During the meeting, Zarif referred to the long-standing and “Failure to join the FATF or any other nia said if Iran refuses to join the FATF, an strategic relations between the two countries and made the nec- international agreement and group will international consensus would be formed essary recommendations to further develop and deepen the ties. increase limitations on our country’s econ- against it. He also wished Jalali success. omy and is somehow in line with what the “Currently, North Korea has been black- enemies seek,” he told ISNA in an interview listed and Iran will be the second country if it published on Sunday. is also blacklisted. If so, the first consequence He noted that refusing to join the FATF will be an international consensus against Iran will isolate the country. in the area of economic activities,” he said. “I believe, under the current situation, we Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas should join the FATF, otherwise, countries Araghchi said on December 16 that the Ex- such as Turkey and China will not continue pediency Council takes the final decision on economic interaction with Iran,” he said. the FATF, expressing hope its decision would In October 2018, the parliament voted be in line with the country’s “expediency”. to join the FATF. However, the Guardian Majid Ansari, a member of the Expedien- Council rejected it. Now the ball is in the cy Council, told IRNA on December 16 that Expediency Council’s court. the council is still studying the CFT and the When there is a dispute between parlia- Palermo bill. ment and the Guardian Council the issue is “Now the Expediency Council, by as- to join the FATF will limit Iran’s economic He declined to comment about wheth- Jalali is set to replace Mehdi Sanaei, Iran’s former ambas- referred to the Expediency Council for final sessing the country’s expediency, should interaction with the outside world. er the two bills would be finally rejected or sador to Moscow. arbitration. make decision in this regard and accept He said that intensification of pressure approved by the council. Jalali was named Tehran’s new ambassador to Moscow last MP Seyed Abolfazl Mousavi also told ISNA the consequences of its decision,” Mousavi against the country will do no good. The Expediency Council issued a state- month. He was a lawmaker at the time. on Sunday that both parliament and admin- pointed out.| Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousa- ment on Saturday announcing that the two Lawmakers voted last month to accept his resignation with istration favor joining the FATA and now In an interview with ISNA published on vi has said that joining the FATF will serve FATF-related bills of Palermo and CFT have 146 in favor and 58 against. Nine MPs also abstained from voting. the Expediency Council should decide about Wednesday, Ali Ebrahimi, a member of the the country’s interests. not yet received green light, saying that the Jalali has served as a lawmaker for five four-year terms. He it by assessing the country’s “expediency”. Hope parliamentary faction, said that a failure “Our friendly countries have announced that bills are under accurate assessment. was the chair of the Iran-Russia parliamentary friendship group in the seventh Parliament and the head of Iran-EU parliamen- tary friendship group in the eighth, ninth, and tenth terms. He also served as the head of the Parliament Research Centre from Time for filing election disqualification complaints ends Sunday 2012 to 2019. they were deemed eligible to run for parliament. said on Saturday that the council would not dismiss as Ambassador Sanaei had taken the post in 2013 at the beginning Disqualified candidates had four days to object. It ended ineligible the candidates who have criticized the Leader of President Hassan Rouhani’s first term in office. on December 22. of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The Interior Ministry announced on December 18 “We have a free country and merely criticizing an that 91 percent of those registering have been confirmed individual or body would not lead to disqualification,” as eligible. Kadkhodaei told a press conference. Larijani: Iranians able The next parliamentary elections will be held on However, he added, insult, defamation and inflamma- February 21. tory remarks, which are clearly different from criticism, to turn hardships into To be able to run for parliament, the candidates must will be probed into when vetting candidates. opportunities be finally confirmed by the Guardian Council. Earlier this month, Kadkhodaei said that the council The candidates will have 8 days to spend on the cam- is the only body responsible to supervise the elections. paign trail, ending on February 19. “Sometimes questions arise over whether we are the POLITICAL TEHRAN — Iranians have the talent and The Iranian parliament has 290 members who are only supervisor of the elections or not,” Kadkhodaei said, deskability to turn hardships into opportunities, elected by the people for four-year terms. adding, “I emphasize that the Guardian Council is the only Majlis Speaker Ali Larijani has said, referring to the United States’ The parliamentary elections will be held in over 200 supervisor of the elections.” unilateral sanctions against Iran. POLITICAL TEHRAN — Sunday marked the last day constituencies across the country’s 31 provinces. He said the Judiciary is tasked with investigating offenses “This is an important point which the Americans should pay deskdisqualified parliamentary candidates The midterm elections of the Assembly of Experts will and the Interior Ministry has an executive responsibility. attention to,” Larijani said, according to IRNA. could object to their ineligibility. also be held on the same date in Tehran, Khorasan Razavi, “This separation of supervision and execution is very He made the remarks during the inauguration ceremony of Parliamentary hopefuls had until December 7 to register. North Khorasan, Fars and Qom provinces. important,” the spokesman remarked. “We should be able the first exhibition of Iran’s sport and equipment industry in On December 18, candidates were informed of whether Guardian Council spokesman Abbasali Kadkhodaei to implement our legal responsibilities properly.” Tehran On Sunday. Larijani also said the U.S. sanctions have activated Iran’s industry.U.S. President Donald Trump has adopted a maximum pressure policy against Iran since he walked away from the JCPOA. Anti-Iran human rights resolution politically-tainted: minority MPs The policy includes sanctions on Iran’s economy, especially its oil exports, and bans on top Iranian figures and organizations. At the 1 The representatives strongly con- Mousavi said an obvious reason proving standards’ on the status of human rights in media propaganda, and the disregard for same time, the U.S. president has pushed for talks with Tehran. demned the resolution for its instrumental illegitimacy of the resolution was that it had the countries and referral of the issue to the and silence on the widespread violation of Iranian leaders have openly rejected the notion of talks with use of fundamental human rights concepts been endorsed by the front of Zionism and international circles, particularly to the United the Iranian nation’s human rights as a result the U.S. as long as its illegal sanctions against Tehran are in place. and described it as a “one-sided” and “biased” the reactionary regional regimes, who ignore Nations. Accordingly, we deplore the fact of the cruel and illegal sanctions. Tehran has described the U.S. sanctions as “economic war” approach with double standards aimed at all kinds of human rights norms, sponsor that the UN mechanisms have been subject “The Islamic Republic of Iran is a demo- and “economic terrorism”. isolating Iran in the international arena. terrorism and extremism, and violate the to such abuses,” he added. cratic religious administration that has taken Iranian officials have also described the sanctions as an op- Also in a statement on Thursday, For- basic human rights. Mousavi also said the destructive approach steps to promote and advance human rights portunity to become self-sufficient. eign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi “The political and instrumental use of that supporters of the resolution have adopted at the national, regional and international Under the JCPOA, the official name for the 2015 nuclear agree- denounced the resolution as “political- human rights and the employment of double against Iran contains multiple errors and levels within the framework of the religious ment, Iran had agreed to put limits on its nuclear activities in ly-motivated”. standards in this area are in contravention of flaws, such as the instrumental and political and moral commitments and in conform- exchange for termination of economic and financial sanctions.