Washington, D.C. – House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce (R-CA) released the following statement after the Financial Action Task Force – an international organization that sets standards for anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing – decided today to keep Iran on its blacklist:

“The FATF’s decision is a sobering reminder that Iran remains a state sponsor of terrorism, and a threat to the U.S. and global financial systems. The idea – driven by Secretary Kerry and President Obama – that Iran is ‘open for business’ is straight out of fantasyland.

“In reality, support for terrorism remains central to the Iranian regime’s foreign policy. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has been labeled Iran’s ‘most powerful economic actor’ by the U.S. Treasury Department. Iran continues to bankroll the terrorist organization Hezbollah, which is playing a key role in propping up the murderous Assad regime in Syria while also keeping over one hundred thousand rockets pointed at Israel. And the U.S. State Department’s most recent terrorism report makes clear that Iran’s financing of ‘Palestinian terrorist groups in Gaza…and various groups in Iraq and throughout the Middle East’ has continued.

“Keeping Iran blacklisted is the right call, and I expect banks will continue to independently implement countermeasures against Iran to protect the international financial system.”

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