US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has commended the Financial Action Task Force (FATF)’s call to place Iran on its blacklist on Friday after it failed to comply with international anti-terrorism financing norms.
“The regime must face consequences for its continued failure to abide by international norms, in particular its inaction in ratifying the Palermo and Terrorist Financing Conventions,” Pompeo said in a statement released by the US State Department.
“The regime needs to adhere to the basic standards that virtually every other country in the world agrees to. Iran must cease its reckless behavior and act like a normal nation if it wants its isolation to end,” Pompeo added.
US State Department Spokesperson Morgan Ortagus said the Paris-based FATF’s decision was “the right call.”
“The Financial Action Task Force made the right call to protect the international financial system from Iran’s lax financial controls by calling on members to re-impose countermeasures,” Ortagus tweeted.
The decision by the FATF came after a week-long plenary session and more than three years of warnings calling on Iran to either enact terrorist financing conventions or see its reprieve from the blacklist lifted and some counter-measures imposed.
