According to the paper, the Expediency Council last week conditionally approved the Combating the Financing of Terrorism (CFT) bill, a key measure linked to Iran’s potential cooperation with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).
The report claimed that one cleric’s statement declaring the CFT “forbidden and illegitimate” was among the factors that stalled the decision.
The newspaper questioned the cleric’s authority to issue such religious judgments, saying his “unfounded remarks” contributed to years of economic stagnation and currency devaluation, from 15,000 to 118,000 tomans per US dollar during that period.
The editorial also held the Expediency Council responsible for the delay, asking why members who now consider the bill beneficial opposed it for so long.
It further called for accountability and structural reform within the council, arguing that its members must meet high intellectual and ethical standards to properly safeguard national interests.
The Jomhouri-e Eslami concluded that Iran’s decision-making bodies need greater transparency and responsibility to prevent similar costly delays in the future.
