TNT:
CandyKisses: International group lifts Iraq from ‘bad’ financial list
Shafaq News / The Middle East and North Africa Financial Action Task Force (MENAFATF) on Wednesday ranked Iraq as a country highly committed to recommendations on combating money laundering and terrorist financing.
The Media Center of the Iraqi Supreme Judicial Council, in a statement received by Shafaq News, said that the organization decided at its general meeting held in the Kingdom of Bahrain for the period from May 19-23, to consider Iraq one of the countries that are highly committed to the recommendations of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) in the field of combating money laundering and terrorist financing.
He pointed out that “the report of the residents on Iraq and the adeqency of the procedures followed by the Iraqi authorities in the field of combating money laundering and the financing of terrorism were accepted.”
He pointed out that accepting the residents’ report “means continuing not to include Iraq on the gray list, which is the list of high-risk countries in the field of combating money laundering and terrorist financing, after the Iraqi team succeeded in convincing the general meeting of MENA FATV of the adequacy of the measures taken by it in this field.”
The media center explained that the two deputy presidents of the Karkh Court of Appeal, Judges Ali Hussein Jaffat, Lia Jafar, and the Deputy Chairman of the Russafa Court of Appeal, Judge Ayad Mohsen, participated in the meeting with a group of representatives of the Anti-Money Laundering Office of the Central Bank of Iraq, as well as representatives of the rest of the relevant Iraqi institutions.
************
Tishwash: US Extends State of Emergency in Iraq
United States President Joe Biden has extended the state of emergency in Iraq for another year, citing the ongoing instability in Iraq as a threat to US national security.
On Monday, the White House released the letter of President Biden’s notification to Congress regarding the extension of the state of emergency in Iraq for another year.
According to Biden’s letter to Congress, “to address the unusual and extreme threats to US national security and foreign policy posed by obstacles to the orderly reconstruction of Iraq, the restoration and maintenance of peace and security in the country, and the development of political administration and economic institutions,” the US president has extended the 2003 national emergency in Iraq for another year.
Resolution 13303 was issued by former US president George W. Bush after the Iraq war on May 22, 2003, to protect the Iraqi Development Fund for the reconstruction of Iraq, as well as to protect Iraqi oil products, US interests, and to lift sanctions on Iraq.
“It will allow the US president to take more steps in Iraq, including the use of emergency forces, the deployment of more troops, the imposition of economic sanctions, the suspension of certain laws and measures, or any other step to protect US national security and foreign policy in Iraq.”
The US president must notify Congress of the extension in a special letter 90 days before the expiration date.
In recent years, Iranian-backed Iraqi militia groups have called for US withdrawal from the country.
For future US and international coalition forces in Iraq, the US and Iraq have established a joint Higher Military Commission, which is a military-to-military dialogue between Iraqi and U.S. defense leaders and professionals.
Since its launch in January 2024, the three subcommittees established by the Higher Military Commission have conducted meetings in Baghdad supported by coalition members to discuss the threat of IS, the operational environment, and the capabilities of the Iraqi Security Forces.Link
