Putin: No Barriers to Iran’s Accession to SCO

“Iran has been taking a proactive part in the organization’s work as observer for a long while, since 2005. I think that after the resolution of the Iranian nuclear problem and lifting of the UN sanctions there are no obstacles for a positive answer to Iran’s request,” Putin said during a meeting of the member states’ leaders in Tashkent, as reported by Tass and covered by Tehran Times.

Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev told Tass on Thursday that possible admission of India, Pakistan and Iran to the organization is an important step in the development of the Eurasian Economic Space.

Summit of the SCO heads of state was held on Friday in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

The SCO is a Eurasian political, economic, and military organization which was founded in 2001 in Shanghai by the leaders of China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.

On July 10, 2015, the SCO decided to admit India and Pakistan as full members, and they are expected to join by 2016.

Afghanistan, Belarus, India, Iran, Mongolia and Pakistan are the current observers of the organization.

Iran applied for full membership on 24 March 2008.