Iran Wants to Join SCO

With an illogical analysis, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Richard Boucher has recently criticized regional cooperation in the framework of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and particularly Iran’s request for membership in the SCO. Based on a long-term forecast -- those which most often turn out to be wrong -- he has expressed concern over these issues.

Failing to take the entirety of the SCO’s comprehensive goals into account, Boucher underlines its security objective and says that the Shanghai Cooperation Organization is not a Warsaw Pact and if it moves in that direction, the U.S. will take action. Referring to Iran’s request for membership in the SCO, he said that even if the SCO accepts Iran as a new member in order to make the organization more powerful, the consequences of Iran’s membership in the SCO will depend on the nature of cooperation in the organization...

Iran’s interest in joining the SCO is in line with the country’s moderate foreign policy because, along with its efforts to join the SCO bloc, Iran has made several unprecedented and successful moves to strengthen ties with regional organizations in other parts of the globe -- from the Persian Gulf Cooperation Council to Latin American and African organizations.

Iran’s membership in the SCO is meant to promote cooperation rather than to exercise influence over the organization’s alignment and as such it enjoys full international legitimacy and national and global support. The accession of Iran as an observer member and President Mahmud Ahmadinejad’s invitation to the most recent SCO summit in China were strong steps SCO members have taken for Iran’s accession as a full member of the SCO.

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Iran has requested membership into the SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Organization), which has caused Richard Boucher some concern. The Middle Eastern country's membership "is meant to promote cooperation rather than to exercise influence over the organization's alignment"; in other words, Iran's joining the SCO should not change the layout of the organization. If anything, their membership should facilitate cooperation among the countries within the organization.

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