Iran Anti Money-Laundering Effort Gets New Scrutiny, Group Says
U.S. Boosts Iran Money-Laundering Scrutiny Amid Rising Tensions
(Bloomberg) -- A multi-government group plans to boost oversight of Iran’s efforts to prevent money laundering as the U.S. said the Islamic Republic has shown a “willful failure” to stop illicit money flows and terrorist financing.
The multi-governmental Financial Action Task Force could seek “additional counter-measures” if Iran doesn’t curtail “systemic money laundering and terrorist deficiencies,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in prepared remarks for a speech on Friday in Orlando.
Mnuchin said the task force actions come in response to Iran’s “willful failure to address its systemic money laundering and terrorist financing deficiencies.”
The task force, currently led by Marshall Billingslea, an assistant secretary at the Treasury Department, said in a statement that Iran must comply with FATF standards by October 2019 or face more stringent audit requirements for “all financial groups with respect to any of their branches and subsidiaries in Iran.”
The FATF, established in 1989, includes 36 member jurisdictions and two regional organizations.
The announcement comes amid increased tensions in the region. The Trump administration has blamed the Islamic Republic for a series of attacks in the Gulf region since mid-May, including one last week on two oil tankers and the downing of a U.S. Navy drone earlier this week.
To contact the reporter on this story: Saleha Mohsin in Washington at smohsin2@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Alex Wayne at awayne3@bloomberg.net, Joshua Gallu, Justin Blum
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