New York: The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has issued a list of nine countries that it says are not taking sufficient measures to combat money laundering and terrorist financing.

The intergovernmental group, which aims to protect the global financial system from those activities, recently identified Iran and North Korea as high-risk enough to warrant a “call to action.” This means the FATF has urged all its members throughout the world to take extra precautions against risks coming from these jurisdictions.

In particular, the FATF recommended that its member countries advise their financial institutions to scrutinize any transactions with Iran and North Korea carefully. This decision came despite Iran’s commitment in June 2016 to an “action plan” to address “deficiencies” in its money-laundering and terrorist-financing policies, the group said.

“Until Iran implements the measures required to address the deficiencies identified in the action plan, the FATF will remain concerned with the terrorist financing risk emanating from Iran and the threat this poses to the international financial system,” the FATF declared.

Meanwhile, the organization “remains concerned” by North Korea’s failure to address “significant deficiencies” in its policies to prevent money laundering and terrorist funding. As such, the FATF also encouraged member countries to use counter-measures such as sanctions to protect their financial sectors from those risks.

The other jurisdictions the FATF is monitoring are Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ethiopia, Iraq, Syria, Uganda, Vanuatu and Yemen.