TEHRAN – An Iranian lawmaker has lauded Iran’s membership in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), saying that led to the Western pressures on Iran.

The lawmaker, Jalil Rahimi Jahan Abadi, said in remarks to IRNA that Iran’s membership in the SCO amounted to the failure of the West’s policy of pressure and isolation against Iran. 

“Iran's membership in Shanghai means breaking the policy of isolation and Western pressure. This issue can create better conditions for Iran in negotiations and in the international arena,” he said. 

Rahimi Jahan Abadi, who is sitting on the Parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, described the SCO as one of the biggest economic, political and security treaties in Central and Eastern Asia. “The presence of China and Russia, two countries with veto power in the UN Security Council, and countries such as India, Pakistan, and Uzbekistan have set the conditions in such a way that Iran's presence in this organization is important due to the type of international interactions and the pressure that the Westerners exert against our country,” he stated. 

The lawmaker added, “The Shanghai Organization can provide banking exchanges for Iran and provide for our mutual needs. Also, this agreement facilitates the movement of our nationals and creates a kind of military interaction in the region in security areas.”

He stated that Iran's membership in the SCO is a bright and powerful point in foreign policy. “One of the general policies of the Westerners is to isolate Iran in the international arena. They intend to bring Iran to the negotiating table with more pressure conditions, but they failed in this regard,” Rahimi Jahan Abadi said. 

He continued, “With Iran joining Shanghai, which is one of the powerful regional alliances alongside Iran, the Westerners will naturally reconsider their rational calculations and negotiations. Because Iran's membership in Shanghai means the end of Iran's isolation and the defeat of what Westerners considered the policy of maximum pressure against Iran.”

He considered Iran's membership and presence in Shanghai as a valuable and lasting measure for the Raisi administration and said, “This measure can have positive effects in improving Iran's relations with the members of this organization.”

He stated, “Iran's presence in this highly populated organization provides the possibility of economic exchange and cooperation in various fields, especially in the field of energy, and it can become an effective member of this organization.”

In mid-September, President Ayatollah Ebrahim Raisi visited Uzbekistan to participate in the 22nd summit of the SCO. During the summit, Iran was officially admitted to the Eurasian alliance. The summit inaugurated Iran’s membership in the Eurasian political, economic, and security bloc. The Uzbek president, whose country played host to the summit, announced Iran’s membership in the SCO.

Iran started the process of joining the SCO immediately after Raisi assumed the presidency. The president launched extensive diplomatic efforts in this regard which resulted in Iran signing the memorandum of commitments at the Samarkand summit. Ayatollah Raisi described the move as an important step in the field of regional and international politics of the Islamic Republic of Iran. “Certainly, with the active and effective presence of the Islamic Republic of Iran in the activities of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, this membership will be recorded as one of the most important developments in the history of this organization,” he said in a speech delivered at the summit.

In addition to SCO membership, Raisi also met with the leaders of China, Russia, and India among others. His meetings with the leaders of these global heavyweights grabbed global headlines as the world is moving toward a multi-polar system. 

Russia and China, along with other emerging powers such as Iran, have been subject to Western sanctions, something that created a common ground for an emerging axis comprising of countries suffering from Western unfair treatment. This has raised concerns in the West. 

“China is willing to make efforts with Russia to assume the role of great powers, and play a guiding role to inject stability and positive energy into a world rocked by social turmoil,” Chinese President Xi Jinping told Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Samarkand.

President Putin, in turn, underlined Russia’s support for Beijing’s “One-China” policy and condemned “the attempts at provocations by the United States in and around Taiwan. Overall, I have to say that attempts at creating a unipolar world have been quite ugly and unacceptable as of late for the majority of the nations on this planet.”

The SCO has been at the center of efforts to break the unipolar world system. And it's growing. Turkey, a NATO ally of the U.S., is now targeting SCO membership.

Iran's full membership in the SCO was announced by the President of Uzbekistan, which was applauded by the participants. China, Russia, India, Iran, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Mongolia, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan attended the 22nd SCO summit.