The Islamic Republic of Iran’s Expediency Discernment Council issued a statement denying the comments made by Vice President Jahangiri which claimed the supreme leader has approved the FATF’s anti-money laundering bill and Combatting Financing Terrorism (CFT) bill.

The Expediency Discernment Council announced on Wednesday that the leader of the Islamic Republic “has not expressed any opinion indicating his approval of passing and implementing the FATF and CFT bills.

On Tuesday, Jahaniri had claimed: “Due to the FATF and CFT bills being passed in the meeting between the heads of three branches of government and the approval of the supreme leader, the Expediency Discernment Council must pass these bills as soon as possible.”

The Expediency Discernment Council has now denied these comments and asked government officials to be honest while quoting the leader.

Despite the verbal altercations between high-ranking officials regarding this issue, the office of the supreme leader is yet to officially react to these claims.

Previously, Mesbahi Moghaddam, a member of the council told ISNA in response to Jahangiri’s comments: “If the leader decides, he will tell us himself. We are subservient to him in all issues.”

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) extended Iran’s deadline by four months for passing the bills against money laundering and financing terrorism.

At the same time, President Hassan Rouhani criticized some of the opposition to passing these bills and said: “I’m not talking about FATF which some people are sensitive about. But why are some people opposing the government and the parliament and create obstacles for the four bills that were passed?”

He added: “We must not allow the accusation of money laundering stick to our banking system. That is bad for the country.”

Rouhani’s chief of staff once again mentioned that the bills were passed by all the heads of three branches of government and said: “The institution that causes problems for FATF must bluntly tell people the cost of their actions.”