BAKU, Azerbaijan, Jan.25
Trend:
Lack of compliance to the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) related bills and the US sanctions are obstacles that weight on the economy, said Iran Foreign Minister.
"We should certainly implement principles of resistance economy but should know that the path we are taking would be better if the obstacles of US sanctions and failure of approving FATF related bills were not weighed on the economy, this reality could not be ignored," said Javad Zarif, Trend reports citing ILNA.
"Two years after the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the agreement has not been fully implemented, and what situation the re-imposed sanctions created. It's not right to relate everything to economic diplomacy while the steps are taken without depending on approval of the FATF related bills or possible return of US to the JCPOA," he said.
"Trade requires banking and when bank transaction is sanctioned it could not communicate, if Iranian ships arrive in foreign ports they say it has broken sanctions and there is a limitation. It is true that we would seek barter and other methods and we would do these tasks but these methods are time-consuming, have more costs, and create more problems," he said.
Zarif went on to say that the parliament could help the Foreign Ministry to monitor all foreign relations and would make necessary coordination but the ministry does not have the possibility to be responsible for foreign trade this is a specialized task.
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has recently ordered the re-evaluation of FATF-related bills by the Expediency Council of Iran.
In February 2020, the Paris-based Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has blacklisted Iran, calling on its member states to sanction Tehran.
