The Financial Intelligence Center announced that, following Iran’s recent measures and activities in combating money laundering and terrorism financing — as reported to FATF’s regional body over the past two years — and the approval of the Palermo Convention by Iran’s Expediency Council, FATF’s secretariat has officially invited Hadi Khani, Secretary of the Supreme Council for the Prevention and Combating of Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing, for negotiations.
These direct talks aim to normalize Iran’s case, suspend counter-measures, and eventually remove the country from FATF’s high-risk “blacklist.” The meeting will be held in Madrid, Spain.
The Palermo Convention was recently approved by the Expediency Council, and Iran’s Foreign Ministry has been tasked with depositing the document with the UN’s treaty office. Work is also underway to finalize Iran’s approval of the CFT (Convention on Combating the Financing of Terrorism).
In this regard, on Tuesday, August 5, 2025, Saeed Iravani, Iran’s Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the UN, wrote to UN Secretary-General António Guterres, informing him that — as instructed by the government — Iran would deposit the ratification document for the UN Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime (adopted on November 15, 2000), which had been officially signed by Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi on July 30, 2025.
Iran had signed this convention on December 12, 2000, and in 2017 the Iranian Parliament approved joining it. However, due to objections from the Guardian Council, the process was delayed for years until the Expediency Council finally passed it into law on May 13, 2025. The Speaker of Parliament then formally notified the President on May 21, 2025, to implement it in accordance with Article 123 of the Constitution.
The Palermo Convention is one of FATF’s four key international conventions. Before this, Iran had already joined two of them. Experts believe that adopting the CFT, as the Palermo Convention’s complementary agreement, would be another important step in building international trust in Iran’s financial transparency. Completing all four FATF conventions would pave the way for deeper cooperation with FATF and, naturally, expand Iran’s economic relations with the world.
