February 2020 is the 6th extension and final deadline for Iran to enact the UN’s Palermo and Terrorist Financing Conventions. This is required by the Paris based Financial Action Task Force (FATF), a global financial fraud watchdog, which monitors and investigates money laundering and the financing of terrorism and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. Even Russia has warned that it will not be able to continue trading with Iran unless the FATF is approved. While the Islamic Republic’s Expediency Council continues to avoid addressing the issue of the conventions, the Iranian economy and the banking sector are stepping closer to a meltdown.
