Iranian Ministers Send ‘Warning Letter’ to Khamenei on FATF

Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei poses before delivering a speech marking Nowruz, Iranian new year, in this handout photo. Reuters
Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei poses before delivering a speech marking Nowruz, Iranian new year, in this handout photo. Reuters
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Iranian Ministers Send ‘Warning Letter’ to Khamenei on FATF

Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei poses before delivering a speech marking Nowruz, Iranian new year, in this handout photo. Reuters
Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei poses before delivering a speech marking Nowruz, Iranian new year, in this handout photo. Reuters

Several ministers in the government of President Hassan Rouhani have signed and sent a letter to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei requesting his help to finalize anti-corruption legislation related to the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).

The ministers demanded the urgent discussion of the government proposal by the Expediency Council, which has powers to approve Iranian bills.

In their letter, the ministers warned from the negative consequences of Iran’s delay in joining the “Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime” or Palermo and the “International Terrorist Financing Convention” known as CFT.

Media reports uncovered on Tuesday that the ministers could resign if the window for joining the international task force combating terror funding and financial corruption is closed down.

The FATF has given Iran a February deadline to complete the necessary reforms for its membership and to be removed from its blacklist.

The minister of labor and welfare, Mohammad Shariatmadari, confirmed on Tuesday that several ministers have written a letter to Khamenei requesting his help in speeding up the process of joining FATF.

The Expediency Discernment Council, which Iranian deputies hope will reassert its support for passing the CFT, is also almost entirely molded by Khamenei, who once every five years elects 44 of the body’s members.

Last Monday, the Iranian parliament failed in gaining the ultra-conservative Guardian Council’s approval for Iran joining the FATF, leaving the dispute to be settled by Tehran’s Expediency Council.

If Tehran fails to secure its FATF membership, it risks stringent and suffocating international measures striking the Iranian financial and banking sector.

The FATF is an international watchdog with objectives to set standards and promote effective implementation of legal, regulatory and operational measures for combating money laundering, terrorist financing and other related threats to the integrity of the international financial system.



Russia Advances in Ukraine at Fastest Monthly Pace Since Start of War, Analysts Say

A police officer drives a vehicle past burning trees during an evacuation of civilians from the outskirts of the Kurakhove town, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Donetsk region, Ukraine September 16, 2024. (Reuters)
A police officer drives a vehicle past burning trees during an evacuation of civilians from the outskirts of the Kurakhove town, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Donetsk region, Ukraine September 16, 2024. (Reuters)
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Russia Advances in Ukraine at Fastest Monthly Pace Since Start of War, Analysts Say

A police officer drives a vehicle past burning trees during an evacuation of civilians from the outskirts of the Kurakhove town, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Donetsk region, Ukraine September 16, 2024. (Reuters)
A police officer drives a vehicle past burning trees during an evacuation of civilians from the outskirts of the Kurakhove town, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Donetsk region, Ukraine September 16, 2024. (Reuters)

Russian forces are advancing in Ukraine at the fastest rate since the early days of the 2022 invasion, taking an area half the size of Greater London over the past month, analysts and war bloggers say.

The war is entering what some Russian and Western officials say could be its most dangerous phase after Moscow's forces made some of their biggest territorial gains and the United States allowed Kyiv to strike back with US missiles.

"Russia has set new weekly and monthly records for the size of the occupied territory in Ukraine," independent Russian news group Agentstvo said in a report.

The Russian army captured almost 235 sq km (91 sq miles) in Ukraine over the past week, a weekly record for 2024, it said.

Russian forces had taken 600 sq km (232 sq miles) in November, it added, citing data from DeepState, a group with close links to the Ukrainian army that studies combat footage and provides frontline maps.

Russia began advancing faster in eastern Ukraine in July just as Ukrainian forces carved out a sliver of its western region of Kursk. Since then, the Russian advance has accelerated, according to open source maps.

Russia's forces are moving into the town of Kurakhove, a stepping stone towards the logistical hub of Pokrovsk in Donetsk, and have been exploiting the vulnerabilities of Kyiv troops along the frontline, analysts said.

"Russian forces recently have been advancing at a significantly quicker rate than they did in the entirety of 2023," analysts at the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War said in a report.

The General Staff of Ukraine's armed forces said in its Monday update that 45 battles of varying intensity were raging along the Kurakhove part of the frontline that evening.

The Institute for the Study of War report and pro-Russian military bloggers say Russian troops are in Kurakhove. Deep State said on its Telegram messaging app on Monday that Russian forces are near Kurakhove.

"Russian forces' advances in southeastern Ukraine are largely the result of the discovery and tactical exploitation of vulnerabilities in Ukraine's lines," Institute analysts said in their report.

Russia says it will achieve all of its aims in Ukraine no matter what the West says or does.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has repeatedly said peace cannot be established until all Russian forces are expelled and all territory captured by Moscow, including Crimea, is returned.

But outnumbered by Russian troops, the Ukrainian military is struggling to recruit soldiers and provide equipment to new units.

Zelenskiy has said he believed Russian President Vladimir Putin's main objectives were to occupy the entire Donbas, spanning the regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, and oust Ukrainian troops from the Kursk region, parts of which they have controlled since August.