Iran’s admission to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) this week further aligns the Islamic Republic with Russia and China, though it is unclear how much membership in the bloc will benefit the Islamic Republic.
Iran became a full member of the SCO on Tuesday at the organization’s virtual meeting hosted by India, 18 years after it acquired observer status in the security and trade cooperation organization. Its application to become a full member was accepted in 2021. China, Russia, India, Pakistan and several Central Asian states are members of the SCO. The organization has additional dialogue partners and observers across the continent.
The membership comes as Iran is seeking better ties with Russia and China as well as Central Asia to break international isolation and sanctions from the United States and Europe. To this end, Iran's non-oil trade with SCO member states rose 31% to more than $17 billion from March to August of last year, according to the official Islamic Republic News Agency.
Becoming a full member of the SCO may be more symbolic than practically important to the Islamic Republic, however, according to Ryan Bohl, a Middle East analyst at the US risk intelligence firm RANE.
