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According To Iran News, Spokesman for Iran’s Guardian Council Abbasali Kadkhodaei shrugged off the recent US sanctions against the members of the council, saying it is an honor to be blacklisted by the enemies of the Iranian nation.

Speaking to reporters on Friday, Kadkhodaei said the latest decision from the US administration to impose sanctions against five members of the Guardian Council is not anything new to the Islamic Republic, since the US has shown hostility towards and made threats against the Iranian nation over the past 41 years and has always received a response.

He also described the US sanctions on the Guardian Council members as an “emblem of honor”, stressing that people of Iran will give a strong response to the US hostility with their huge turnout in the Friday’s election.

Kadkhodaei underlined that the Guardian Council members have been by no means irritated at the new US sanctions, saying they are delighted to receive such medal of honor from the archenemies of Iran.

His comments came after US President Donald Trump’s administration on Thursday announced sanctions against five Iranian officials in the Guardian Council.

The sanctions were announced a day before Iran’s parliamentary election.

The Guardian Council is a constitutionally mandated 12-member council in Iran that, among other things, is tasked with ensuring the compatibility of the legislation passed by the parliament with the criteria of Islam and the Constitution.

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Abas Ali Kadkhodaei, who also serves as the deputy secretary-general of the council, wrote that time for registration of candidates ended on Saturday evening and “more than 16,000 candidates register for the 11th parliamentary election.”

He said, “Monitoring and executive teams will review the competency of the registered candidates and will announce the final list according to the constitution.”

On December 1, Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Ali Khamenei advised potential parliamentary candidates not to run for the elections “if you don’t have management capabilities.”

Jamal Orf, the Interior Ministry director for election headquarters, announced on Sunday that 248 sitting MPs and 633 former MPs have registered to run for parliament.

The Leader criticized the way many people register for the elections, saying now that potential candidates can register for the parliamentary elections, a lot of people go ahead and register without hesitation.

Every responsibility or position requires certain commitments, Ayatollah Khamenei said.

“You have to see if you can make that commitment,” Ayatollah Khamenei said.

The Interior Ministry started registering candidates for the parliamentary elections on December 8. It ended on December 7.

The election will be held on February 21, 2020.

The elections will be held in over 200 constituencies across the country’s 31 provinces.

The Guardian Council will release the names of candidates deemed eligible to run by December 18.

Disqualified candidates will have four days to object to the Guardian Council, after which the council will study complaints and announce the final list on February 11.

The candidates will have 8 days to spend on the campaign trail, ending on February 19, and then the elections will be held on February 21.

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“Canada’s seizure of Iranian state properties is a blatant example of state-run economic terrorism,” remarked Kadkhodaei, a law expert.

“Canada’s action is contrary to generally recognized principles of international law, including the principle of sovereignty,” the Guardian Council spokesman added.

He also called on Iran’s Judiciary to take a countermeasure against the Canadian government.

The comments came after a report by Global News said Canada had gifted some $30 million worth of Iranian assets to the victims of terrorist attacks in which Iran says has not been involved, according to Press TV.

According to the report, the victims have received their share of the money earned through the sale of two Iranian-owned buildings in Ottawa and Toronto, a document filed in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice in August reveals.

The valuable Ottawa property, sold for $26.5 million, was used as the Iranian Cultural Center, and the Toronto building, sold for $1.85 million, served as the Center for Iranian Studies, the Global News reported.

In addition to the $28 million earned from the sale of the two properties, the victims were also awarded a share of some $2.6 million seized from Iran’s bank accounts. Documents also list a Toyota Camry and Mazda MPV.

In particular, they include the family of Marla Bennett, a U.S. citizen killed in a 2002 bombing that rocked the Hebrew University in Jerusalem al-Quds.

The attacks are mostly blamed on Palestinian and Lebanese resistance movements Hamas and Hezbollah. The families claimed that the Iranian government supported the two organizations and was therefore responsible for their actions.

Iran has denied any role in the attacks, saying the court ruling is an unlawful move that will have consequences for the Ottawa government if not revoked.

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In a statement on Friday, the IRGC said that the vessel named “Stena Impero” had been captured “at the request of Hormozgan Ports and Maritime Organization when passing through the Strait of Hormuz, for failing to respect international maritime rules.” The oil tanker was transferred to the coast to undergo the required legal proceedings, the statement added.

An unnamed Iranian maritime official said the ship had breached international maritime regulations by passing through a prohibited maritime passage in the Strait, turning off its tracking signals and ignoring warnings issued by Iranian authorities. “The tanker had turned off its tracker and ignored several warnings by the IRGC before being impounded,” the source said.

On July 4, British Royal Marines in Gibraltar stormed the Iran-operated 300,000-tonne Grace 1 and detained it, accusing it of carrying oil to Syria in possible violation of the European Union’s sanctions on the Arab country. Iran condemned the move as “piracy” and summoned Britain’s ambassador in protest over it.

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Gholamreza Mesbahi-Moghadam said the bill will be sent to Majlis speaker Ali Larijani for declaration.

Larijani, Economy Minister Farhad Dejpasand, Chairman of Majlis Judicial and Legal Commission Allahyar Malekshahi and Laya Joneidi, the vice president for legal affairs, attended the council’s meeting, Mesbahi-Moghadam said.

However, President Hassan Rouhani were among the absentees of the council’s Saturday session.

According to IRNA, the bill to amend the anti-money laundering law had been approved by the cabinet ministers on November 8, 2017 and sent to the Guardian Council after a ratification by the Majlis.

However, the Guardian Council, after studying the bill, sent it back to Majlis after finding some faults with it. The Majlis insisted on its ratification and sent it to the Expediency Council, which acts as an arbitration between the Majlis and the Guardian Council.

The amendment was a preference of conservatives after the government introduced a bill on countering the financing on terrorism (known as the CFT) as a bid to facilitate the neutralization of Iran by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).

Rouhani’s government has been trying to implement standards set by the FATF, a global group of government anti-money-laundering (AML) and counter financing of terrorism regimes, in the hope it will be removed from a blacklist that makes some foreign investors reluctant to deal with it.

In October, the FATF gave Iran until February to complete reforms that would bring it into line with its norms or face consequences.

However, the conservatives prefer to revamp an existing domestic law over accepting a law that strictly reflects the FATF’s standards. So far two bills related amending the anti-money laundering law and the CFT have been confirmed.

‘Only two faults with CFT have been corrected’

Abbasali Kadkhodaei, spokesman of the Guardian Council, told a press conference on Saturday that the council found a series of faults with the CFT, but only two of them had been corrected.

“The Guardian Council found certain faults with the bill, and the bill was sent to the Majlis. Only two of the faults have been corrected and the other ones still remain,” he explained.

On October 7, the parliament (Majlis) voted in favor of the CFT. At the time, a total of 143 lawmakers, out of 268 ones present in the parliament, voted in favor of the bill. However, the oversight Guardian Council rejected the bill by finding 20 faults with it.

In December, the parliament made changes to the CFT. The bill was referred to the Expediency Council for further study.

‘Parliament to study CFT at presence of Kadkhodaei’

Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Committee Chairman Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh told ISNA on Saturday that the committee will study the CFT at the presence of Kadkhodaei on Sunday.

“The Guardian Council found 22 faults with the CFT and three of them have been solved. The Majlis insisted to send seven items to the Expediency Council and the remaining 12 items will be studied in national security committee tomorrow [Sunday],” Falahatpisheh stated.

Ayatollah Sadeq Amoli Larijani, who was appointed as the chairman of the Expediency Council on December 30 by the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, chaired Saturday’s meeting of the council. Larijani, the Judiciary chief, replaced Ayatollah Seyyed Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi, who passed away at the age of 70 on December 24.

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In a tweet on Tuesday, Kadkhodaei also called on Iranian experts to voice their opinion to the council on the issue’s religious and constitutional aspects.

Last week, Mohsen Rezaee, secretary of the Expediency Council, said the parliament and the Expediency Council had been holding discussions regarding the government-proposed bills on money laundering and Palermo Convention.

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