On May 14, 2025, Iran’s Expediency Council conditionally approved the country’s accession to the Palermo Convention. This decision was made after three plenary sessions of the Council and five meetings of the joint commission. Previously, the Guardian Council had also approved the bill.
Mohsen Dehnavi, spokesperson for the Expediency Council, stated that Iran has accepted this convention within the framework of its Constitution and domestic laws.
Hadi Khani, head of the Financial Intelligence Unit at the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Finance, also confirmed the approval of the Palermo bill by the Expediency Council. He added that Iran’s accession to the Convention on the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism (CFT) will be reviewed in future sessions of the Council.
The conditional approval of this bill could be a positive step toward improving Iran’s financial and banking relations with the international community and reducing pressures stemming from its placement on the FATF blacklist.