TEHRAN (ecoideal)- A large number of Iranian people and university students gathered in front of the parliament and the office of Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani, demanding the legislature to avoid ratifying the bills that would endorse the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) convention and recommendations.
The Iranian students gathered in front of the parliament building in Tehran early Sunday, warning the Iranian officials about the dangers of approving the FATF.
They carried placards saying that "FATF will cut off the resistance's arms" and "no to self-sanctions".
Also, a large number of Iranian people gathered in front of Larijani's office in the Central city of Qom on Saturday, to show opposition to the FATF.
They chanted "death to the US" and "death to Israel" slogans and carried placards to remind the damages that will be inflicted on Iran after joining the FATF.
Meantime, a number of Iranian lawmakers presented a petition signed by 50,000 people in opposition to the endorsement of FATF to the parliament's presiding board.
Later in the day, the Iranian lawmakers decided to suspend vote on the country's endorsement of the Combating the Financing of Terrorism (CFT) convention for two months.
The legislators agreed with 138 yet votes out of 253 votes to suspend decision on the CFT for two months until Europe declares how it is to protect the 2015 nuclear deal after the US withdrawal.
Speaker Larjani informed the lawmakers before the voting that the government did not oppose suspension of the decision on the CFT by the MPs.
CFT involves investigating, analyzing, deterring and preventing sources of funding for activities intended to achieve political, religious or ideological goals through violence and the threat of violence against civilians.
The Iranian lawmakers are worried about the definition of terrorism applied to such conventions, given the US influence over such international bodies.
A number of Iranian MPs had also last week voiced opposition to the approval of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) convention.
A senior Iranian legislator had underscored last Sunday that Tehran was not necessitated to join the FATF convention as it would bear no fruits for the country.
"If conditions are ripe and there is a proper ground, then the country will make a concession and the other side will make a concession too but under the current conditions there is no necessity for us to join the convention because we cannot force them to make concessions," member of the parliament's Judiciary and Legal Commission Yahya Kamalipour told ecoideal.
He referred to a letter by 50 Iranian legislators to demand suspension of the decision to join the FATF until Europe declares how it is to protect the 2015 nuclear deal after the US withdrawal, and said only when Europe provides the needed ensurances stressed by the Iranian Leader, then the Iranian MPs will study the FATF and approve it based on the criteria accepted by Iran.
In relevant remarks on May 23, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei declared five prerequisites for the EU to keep Tehran under the nuclear deal, underlining that the three European nations are necessitated to prove their trustworthiness after their disloyalty to a similar deal in 2005.
Addressing a meeting with former and present Iranian officials here in Tehran, the Iranian Leader reminded defiance of undertakings by Britain, France and Germany back in 2005 when Iran embarked on a voluntary implementation of the additional protocol to the NPT and halted nuclear activities, and said the European trio "showed a major disloyalty; they made a promise in 2004-2005, but defied. Now they should prove that today they won't show the dishonesty and disloyalty of that day".
Ayatollah Khamenei asked officials not to repeat a single mistake twice, and cautioned, "Europe has displayed that it accompanies the US in most sensitive cases."
He further blasted the Europeans for keeping mum about the US frequent violations of the 2015 nuclear deal in the last two years, and said "the EU is required to make up for this silence".
Ayatollah Khamenei reminded that the US has violated UN Security Council Resolution 2231 that accompanies the nuclear deal, and said hence "Europe should issue a resolution against the US violation" of the agreement.
He said "the EU should also undertake to avoid a discussion of Iran's missile and regional power".
The Iranian Leader reminded that the nuclear talks were aimed at the removal of the sanctions, "many of which were not lifted, while they have been recently threatening to revive the sanctions despite the emphasis of the UN Security Council resolution" to the otherwise.
The Leader further underlined that the EU should also pledge "to take action against any kind of sanction against the Islamic Republic and stand against the US sanctions on the basis of a clear-cut position".
"Europe is also needed to ensure Iran's full crude sales," he said, and explained, "In case the Americans manage to strike a blow at our oil sales, (we) should be able to sell whatever volume of oil that we want. The Europeans should compensate (for the loss in crude sales) in a guaranteed manner and buy Iran's crude."
Ayatollah Khamenei also underscored that the EU banks should also ensure trade with Iran, and said, "We don't want a fight with these three countries, but (we) don't trust them either because of their past record."
He further warned that "if Europeans delay in complying with our demands, then Iran would preserve its right for resuming nuclear activities". "Once we observe that the JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action) produces no fruit, then one way would be reviving the operations that have been shut down."
Source: Farsnews