Iran continues to pose a threat to the integrity of the international financial system due to its failure to stamp out terrorist financing or money la

Iran continues to pose a threat to the integrity of the international financial system due to its failure to stamp out terrorist financing or money laundering, an international body tasked with combating financial crime said Thursday.
The statement from the Financial Action Task Force came as it published a list of rogue countries that have failed to take sufficient action against terrorist funding and money laundering. They include Angola, North Korea, Ecuador, Ethiopia, Pakistan, Turkmenistan, and Sao Tome and Principe.
Iran must immediately criminalize terrorist financing within its borders and begin reporting of suspicious transactions to meet international standards on countering money laundering and funding of terrorist activities, the task force said in a public statement.
The FATF also urged other countries to advise their banks to pay special attention to their business dealings with Iran and Iranian companies and renewed a call for countries to apply "counter-measures" to protect their financial sectors from money laundering and terrorism financing from Iran.
The FATF said that, if Iran fails to take further action, the task force will consider calling on its member countries to strengthen their counter-measures in June.
The FATF said Angola, North Korea, Ecuador and Ethiopia have weaknesses in their safeguards against money laundering and terrorist financing and hadn't committed to an action plan, developed with the FATF, to address them by February. It said Pakistan, Turkmenistan and Sao Tome and Principe have weaknesses that still must be addressed.
The FATF also issued a list of 20 legal jurisdictions that, while they still have deficiencies in the way they deal with money laundering and terrorism financing, have gone as far as developing an action plan with the task force.
These countries are Antigua and Barbuda, Azerbaijan, Bolivia, Greece, Indonesia, Kenya, Morocco, Myanmar, Nepal, Nigeria, Paraguay, Qatar, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Syria, Trinidad and Tobago, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine and Yemen.
The FATF said it is yet to review a large number of financial jurisdictions, but it has begun an initial review of some and will report its findings on these later this year.