Permanent Shanghai Cooperation Organization members accept Iran

Iran’s full status as a member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization has been approved after about 15 years by the organization's permanent members. Full membership gives the Islamic Republic substantial leverage and influence in the Eurasian alliance.

According to Press TV, in recent months, Iran and China have been working on a wide ranging long term political, economic, and security accord that would inject hundreds of billions of dollars of investments into the Iranian financial markets and infrastructure projects.

Iran has also been exploring a similar long-term pact with Russia. Political leaders in Tehran perceive these actions as a necessary means of overcoming US hegemony and economic terrorism.

According to geopolitical analysts "A convergence of interests is bringing Iran, China, and Russia closer together than ever. Iran signed a multidimensional 25-year strategic treaty with China and prepared to make a similar deal with Russia in the near future. And now this country has ascended to the SCO. This could be seen as the third decisive move in Tehran’s deep inclination toward the East."

Iran’s new strategy of becoming a “Pivot to the East” involves developing dynamic economic, political, military, and security alliances with Asian powers, basically China, India and Russia.

This approach has gained all the more credence among Iranian officials since former US President’s Donald Trump’s misguided move of withdrawing from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) and his conducting “maximum pressure” policies towards Iran.

Iran has certainly found receptive partners in the East. Tehran, Moscow, and Beijing oppose the US military and interventionist policies and seek to eliminate the supremacy of the US economy in the Eurasian region.

That does not mean Iran will be amplifying tensions and forgoing relations with the west.

But for things to go forward, western sanctions on Iran will have to be lifted. UN sanctions have already been lifted otherwise Iran’s permanent membership to the SCO wouldn’t have been possible.

The SCO or Shanghai Cooperation Organization, which grew from the “Shanghai Five” pact, was established in 2001 by the leaders of China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

The aim was to balance multilateral security, and economic and cultural cooperation, with a view to balancing US and NATO influence in the Eurasian region.

ME