Raisi's First Foreign Trip To SCO Meeting, Tehran Seeking Membership-Anwaj

MENA news outlet Amwaj.media reporting that Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi's first foreign trip will be to Tajikistan for the heads of government meeting of members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), taking place in Dushanbe 16-17 September.

• The SCO is a regional cooperation group founded in 2001 comprising China, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Iran has sat as an observer member since 2005 and has frequently sought full membership status.
• A number of SCO states have bristled at the prospect of Iran becoming a full member, fearing it could lead to the group becoming embroiled in the US-Iran relationship.
• However, Iran is supposedly seeking the extension of an existing strategic agreement with Moscow, and earlier this year signed a comprehensive strategic partnership agreement with Beijing earlier this year. Should two of the most powerful nations in the SCO shift towards Iranian membership, it could cause splits within the group.
• Eventual SCO membership for Iran would set up the bloc clearly as a body intended to act as a counterweight to NATO on the foreign and security policy landscape, putting India in a difficult position given how the US and other nations continue to court New Delhi on foreign policy matters and how strained India's relations with Pakistan and China have proved in recent months and years.