Saed News: While there has been no change in FATF's hostile approach toward Iran and the Expediency Council has not made any decision regarding the approval of the dual bills, some media outlets have attributed currency fluctuations to FATF!
According to the political section of Saed News, Kayhan wrote:
In this regard, the state-run IRNA news agency, in an insinuating report titled "The Positive Reaction of the Currency Market to the Approval of FATF Bills / Exchange Rates Decreased," wrote:
"The news of the Special Commission of the Expediency Council approving Iran’s membership in the Palermo and CFT Conventions, which are prerequisites for joining the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), has been welcomed by currency market players, leading to a decline in exchange rates. After Seyed Mohammad Sadr, a member of the Council, announced last week that the Special Commission had approved these bills and expressed hope that they would pass in the main session, major currency rates in the virtual market dropped. Unofficial currency market traders believe that with the approval of FATF-related bills in the commission, there is a high probability of their approval in the main session of the Expediency Council, which would remove a major obstacle to financial transactions and further lower the dollar exchange rate."
The pro-West Donya-e-Eqtesad newspaper, which has supported rising currency and car prices in recent months, ran the headline: "Exchange Rate Declines; FATF Gives Green Light to the Dollar." The newspaper wrote:
"Some analysts believe that the market-maker is increasing the supply of currency to maintain the national currency’s value, which they see as the reason for the dollar’s decline in the unofficial market. Additionally, positive news about the progress of the CFT and Palermo bills has impacted the currency market. A Council member stated that joint commissions had approved these bills and that joining FATF, which could significantly affect Iran’s trade relations, now only requires approval in the main session. According to the Council’s spokesperson, passing these two bills requires a two-thirds majority vote, and discussions will take place in early 1404 (2025). Experts believe that if these bills are passed, it will facilitate foreign currency inflows to the country."
Donya-e-Eqtesad also wrote: "A positive political signal, alongside relative stability in the dollar’s price, has stimulated the Tehran Stock Exchange. Signals from FATF and political discussions around it caused the dollar price to momentarily decline."
The Jomhouri Eslami newspaper also republished IRNA’s insinuative analysis, making "The Positive Reaction of the Currency Market to the Progress of FATF Bill Approvals" its top headline.
It appears that this fabricated media narrative aims to mislead some members of the Expediency Council or pressure them into voting against the country's interests by ignoring the damages and past lessons of years of one-sided cooperation with FATF.
Claims of improvements in the currency and stock markets are being made even though no actual decision has been made by the Council. Furthermore, FATF advocates refuse to guarantee that approving and implementing the remaining bills will lead to the lifting, suspension, or even reduction of sanctions. In contrast, during Rouhani’s administration, 39 out of 41 FATF action plan recommendations were implemented, yet the number of sanctions increased from 850 to 2,000. Even now, FATF neither provides nor can provide any guarantees regarding sanction relief due to its subservience to the U.S. and the West.
The bitter and instructive reality is that despite FATF’s proclaimed mission to combat money laundering, terrorist financing, and organized crime, it has never targeted the primary perpetrators of these crimes in the U.S., U.K., France, and other Western countries. Moreover, in the eyes of the Western mafia controlling FATF, groups such as Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah, and Ansarullah—who defend their countries against occupiers—are labeled as terrorists, while criminal occupiers are full FATF members and have the power to decide Iran’s membership or its removal from the blacklist.
All these facts leave no doubt that FATF neither intends nor is capable of lifting sanctions. Thus, the above media propaganda is merely a deception operation to push Iran into the West’s trap.
