Iran's parliamentary speaker Ali Larijani is under fire by hard-liners over his role in lawmakers’ recent approval of bills related to the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). In this vein, hard-liners are reminding the Iranian public of Larijani's cooperation with President Hassan Rouhani in selling the nuclear deal to Iranians, arguing that Larijani is being groomed for the 2021 presidential election.

Iran's parliament passed the Combating the Financing of Terrorism bill on Oct. 7, one of the four key bills that parliament must approve for Iran to be removed from the FATF blacklist. It took parliament months to pass this controversial bill due to the determination of hard-liners to stop it. Hard-liners believe the bill would cut Iran's ties to the "Axis of Resistance" — an argument refuted by the Reformists, who say the FATF only recognizes groups as terroristic if they are described as such by the United Nations.

The Oct. 7 parliament session turned into a real competition between the Reformists and hard-liners over the FATF bills. It was reminiscent of the day the lawmakers approved the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action back in 2015, despite the uproar from hard-liners.

The FATF is an intergovernmental organization created in 1989 to combat money laundering and terrorism financing. Iran's presence on the FATF black list was suspended in 2016. Following Tehran's passing the related bills, the group has given Iran a four-month period (until February) to undertake reforms that would bring it in line with global banking norms.