Iran & SCO: Obstacles to Full Membership & Impacts - By Satish Kumar Karna

With two main trading partners, China and India in SCO, Iran may be pushed in opposing directions. More crucially, Russia and China are the two most powerful stakeholders in the SCO, and they are using the organization to pursue their own geopolitical goals, with an emphasis on security threats rather than economic deals. In these circumstances, the Islamic Republic should not expect the bloc to meet all of its demands and aspirations on the world stage.

In 2005, Iran, along with India and Pakistan, became an observer member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. While India and Pakistan were made permanent members ....