Azerbaijan, Baku, November 11 / Trend, T. Konyayeva /
Iran is unlikely to be accepted into the membership of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) because of the organization's potential involvement in Iran's war conflicts with the Gulf countries, said Yevgeny Satanovsky, President of the Middle Eastern Studies Institute.
"Iran may claim for SCO membership but the SCO is not empowered to accept a state, against which sanctions have been imposed, into its membership," Satanovsky telephoned Trend on Friday. "Given that the SCO is a military-political bloc, in the event of any war conflict, regardless from source of its origin, SCO member states are obliged to provide certain collective assistance to a SCO member subject to war".
Ali Bageri, Deputy Secretary of Iranian Higher National Security Council, reported on Friday that Iran wants to become a SCO full member state, news agency Interfax said.
Currently, Iran, as well as India, Mongolia and Pakistan have the SCO observer status.
The SCO is a regional international organization founded in 2001 by the leaders of China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan.
As for Iran, military conflict against not only Israel but also a Gulf state is possible, Satanovsky said.
"There is the question of not only Israel but also Gulf neighbors, which is much more important and tenser from the point of relations with the West, because not Israel but Saudi Arabia actually leads the situation to a war. This also concerns the United Arab Emirates, with its islands occupied by Iran, and Kuwait and Bahrain," he said.
If Iran joins the SCO in such a situation, this will mean SCO very strict conflict against the entire Arab world, Satanovsky noted.
China's position on the matter will be not more pro-Iranian than Russia's, he said.
"China has huge interests in the Arab world, including the mentioned Saudi Arabia. In this situation China undoubtedly will keep a certain neutrality," he noted.