Why Is Iran So Keen on Joining the SCO? – The Diplomat

Leaders of member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) sign agreements for the SCO summit in Qingdao in eastern China’s Shandong Province, Sunday, June 10, 2018.

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Recent remarks by Russian and Iranian officials suggest that Iran is on the verge of gaining full membership in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), a regional forum launched in 2001 by China, Russia, and the Central Asian republics (minus Turkmenistan) to combat the so-called “three evils” namely “terrorism, separatism, and extremism.” Iran has awaited this moment since becoming an observer member of the SCO in 2005. After signing a multidimensional 25-year strategic treaty with China and preparing to make a similar deal with Russia in the near term, Iran’s accession to the SCO could be seen as the third decisive move in Tehran’s deep inclination toward the East.

The Raisi Government and Iran’s New Turn to the East

Iran’s new president, Ebrahim Raisi, has not been a leading figure in Iran’s foreign policy decision-making. That’s why, unlike his predecessor, he has not yet outlined the dimensions of his foreign policy strategy or specified what goals he wants to achieve abroad. Nevertheless, he is surrounded by individuals who were critics of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). These same voices criticized the Rouhani administration for not paying enough attention to relations with Russia and China and not using the presumably expanded ties with Moscow and Beijing as leverage in the negotiations with the United States and Europe. Though this camp has never made explicit how, exactly, the West will be impressed into lifting sanctions or accepting Iran’s other demands by Iran’s assumed close ties with Russia and China, they have gotten new credentials from the country‘s top decision-maker.

In a last short meeting with Rouhani and his cabinet, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei once again slammed Rouhani for “trusting” the West, foreshadowing a continued deadlock in the Vienna negotiations on reviving the JCPOA. Tellingly, the Supreme Leader’s office then released a short video file in which Ayatollah Khamenei, during a private meeting in 2012 with the then-head of the Expediency Council, Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani, is seen decrying Rafsanjani’s insistence on forging a relationship with the U.S.