Iranian Journalist and Khamenei Representative: FATF-CFT Would Be Disaster for Iran

Iranian journalist Hossein Shariatmadari, the editor-in-chief of Kayhan newspaper, said in an interview with Iran’s Young Journalists Club (YJC) that was uploaded to the Internet on February 19, 2019 that agreeing to the CFT (Combating Financing of Terrorism) guidelines of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) would be a disaster for Iran because Iran would not have the right to determine its own definition of terrorism. He explained that since the West considers many of Iran’s government bodies to be terrorist organizations, joining CFT would require Iran to defund the IRGC, the Quds Force, the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Intelligence, and the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, as well as shut down its entire missile program. Shariatmadari is Khamenei’s official representative at Kayhan and the manager of Kayhan Institute, which owns the Kayhan newspaper.