Iran’s Khameni advises parliament to pass own anti-money laundering law

Iran has been attempting to implement standards set by Financial Action Task Force, a global group of government anti-money-laundering agencies. (AFP)
Updated 20 June 2018
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Iran’s Khameni advises parliament to pass own anti-money laundering law

BEIRUT: Iran’s Supreme Leader advised members of parliament on Wednesday to pass their own legislation to combat money laundering, decreasing chances that laws based on requirements by the global Financial Action Task Force (FATF) will be passed.
“Some of these treaties have useful parts, it’s not a problem,” Aytollah Ali Khamenei said in a speech to members of parliament, according to a transcript published on his official website. “The solution for this issue is that the parliament should make up its own law. For example, a law for fighting money laundering. There is no need for us to accept things that we don’t know where they will end up.”
Iran has been attempting to implement standards set by FATF, a global group of government anti-money-laundering agencies, in the hopes it will be removed from a blacklist that makes some foreign investors reluctant to deal with the country.


Israeli settlers burn tents, vehicles in West Bank village

Updated 52 min 3 sec ago
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Israeli settlers burn tents, vehicles in West Bank village

  • Videos show masked men rampaging into the Palestinian village of Susiya near Hebron and burning vehicles and property
  • Similar attacks have become common as settlers ‌seek to control large swathes of ​land in the West Bank

SUSIYA, West Bank: Israeli settlers set ‌fire to vehicles and tents in the Palestinian village of Susiya on Tuesday night, residents said, in the latest incident of settler violence against Palestinians ​in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Videos verified by Reuters showed a masked group of men, who residents said were Israeli settlers, approaching the village near the city of Hebron, and later burning vehicles and Palestinian property.
“They attack us almost every day, repeatedly, because we live near the main road...Last night they burned everywhere,” Halima Abu Eid, a Susiya resident told Reuters on Wednesday.
The ‌Israeli military ‌said they had dispatched soldiers to deal ​with ‌reports ⁠of “deliberate ​burnings of ⁠Palestinian property” and had opened an investigation into the incident.

A Palestinian man inspects his burnt vehicle after it was set on fire by Israeli settlers in Susya village near Hebron. (AFP)

Violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinians in the West Bank has increased sharply since the beginning of the war in Gaza in October 2023, with over 800 Palestinians displaced due to settler attacks in 2026 according to United Nations data.
Attacks where masked settlers arrive ⁠at night to destroy Palestinian property or attack ‌residents have become common, as Israeli settlers ‌seek to control large swathes of ​land in the West Bank.
An ‌Israeli official previously blamed settler violence on a “fringe minority,” although ‌Reuters reporting has shown well-organized plans to take Palestinian land in public settler social media channels.
The United Nations has documented at least 86 instances of settler violence from February 3 to 16, leading to the displacement ‌of 146 Palestinians and the injury of 64.
Israeli indictments of settler violence are rare. At ⁠the end of ⁠2025, Israeli monitoring group Yesh Din said of the hundreds of cases of settler violence it had documented since October 7, 2023, only 2 percent resulted in indictments. Israel’s far-right governing coalition has enabled the rapid spread of settlements, with some ministers openly stating they want to “bury” a Palestinian state.
Most world powers deem Israel’s settlements, on land it captured in a 1967 war, illegal, and numerous UN Security Council resolutions have called on Israel to halt all settlement activity.
Israel disputes the view that its ​settlements are unlawful and it ​cites biblical and historical ties to the land.