Political obstacles to Iran’s membership in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) have been removed, Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council said on Wednesday.
“An hour ago, in a talk with my friend and colleague Secretary of Russia’s Security Council Nikolai Patrushev, we discussed the situations in Afghanistan, Syria, and the Persian Gulf,” Ali Shamkhani wrote on his Twitter account.
Fortunately, political obstacles to Iran’s membership in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization have been lifted and Iran’s membership will be finalized through technical formalities, he further noted.
China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Tajikistan established Shanghai Five in 1996 which aimed to counter new security threats. The group developed to form SCO when Uzbekistan joined it in 2001.
In 2005, Iran, India, and Pakistan became observer members of the Organization. India and Pakistan were admitted as permanent members while Iran’s request had not been accepted due to different approaches of some member-states.