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Trump administration welcomes financial watchdog’s Iran sanctions reprieve

Treasury Department experts prevail as the United States endorses the Financial Action Task Force’s decision to indefinitely suspend countermeasures on Iran.
An Iranian woman walks past a Bank Pasargad in the capital Tehran on January 19, 2016.
Iran will receive $32 billion of unfrozen assets after sanctions were lifted in a deal with world powers over its nuclear programme, Iranian central bank chief Valiollah Seif said. / AFP / ATTA KENARE        (Photo credit should read ATTA KENARE/AFP/Getty Images)
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WASHINGTON — The Donald Trump administration expressed support today for an intergovernmental watchdog’s decision that rewards the Iranian financial system for its relative progress combating money laundering and terrorism financing.

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) voted last week to continue suspending countermeasures on Iran indefinitely, while keeping the country on the banking advisory body’s black list. State and Treasury officials told Al-Monitor they welcomed the decision to warn about the risks of doing business with Iran, even as Tehran also applauded a move that curtails the threat of new sanctions.

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