Baku, Azerbaijan, Mar.11
By - Trend:
Iran will be able to apply for full membership in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) after UN sanctions are lifted against the country, said Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov, RIA Novosti news agency reported.
He said that Iran has applied for a transfer from observer status to full membership of the organization, but there is one peculiar thing that is needed to be taken into account when considering the application.
"The SCO Charter says that countries which are either under sanctions of UN or internationally recognized sanctions cannot be full members of the SCO," Morgulov told reporters in the lobby of the Tenth SCO Forum in Khanty-Mansiysk. "As long as there are sanctions against Iran, Iran has simply no legal, legitimate opportunity to become a full member of the SCO. But we hope that the situation around Iran's nuclear program will be resolved in the near future. Accordingly, it will open the way for the lifting of sanctions against Iran and open the way to full membership in the SCO."
Translated by EA
Edited by CN