Russian Ambassador to the UN Vitaly Churkin said on Friday that there is no obstacle for Iran to become a member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization after reaching the nuclear deal.

“We consider there are no obstacles left for a positive consideration of its [Iran’s] membership application after the resolution of the situation on Iran’s nuclear program and lifting of the UN sanctions,” Sputnik quoted him as saying.

The UN Security Council held a session on Friday on the issue of the organization’s cooperation with regional formats such as the SCO, the Commonwealth of Independent States and the Collective Security Treaty Organization.

The SCO is a Eurasian political and economic organization which was founded in 2001 in Shanghai by the leaders of China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.

Since 2008, Russia has been advocating the idea of Iran’s SCO membership, but the process had been complicated by the sanctions regime against Tehran, which has been lifted recently.

Iran and the 5+1 group (the United States, Britain, France, China and Russia plus Germany) reached a nuclear agreement in July 2015 and the deal went into effect in January 2016.