Iran announces it is seeking membership in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization

[babylonsister]

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/03/24/asia/AS-GEN-Tajikistan-Iran-SCO.php

Iran announces it is seeking membership in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization
The Associated Press
Published: March 24, 2008


DUSHANBE, Tajikistan: Iran's Foreign Minister said Monday his country has applied to join the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, a regional security group dominated by China and Russia.

The Shanghai Cooperation Organization was created 11 years ago to address religious extremism and border security in Central Asia, but with growing interest in membership from countries such as Iran, it has grown into a bloc aimed at defying U.S. interests in the region.

Iran currently has observer status in the organization, as do Afghanistan, India, Mongolia and Pakistan. Along with China and Russia, the body's permanent members are the former Soviet republics of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

"Tajikistan has given us its support over this matter," Iran's Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said after meeting with Tajik President Emomali Rakhmon in the capital, Dushanbe.

Rakhmon visited Iran last month to hold talks with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The topics included increasing military cooperation.

Mottaki's announcement may raise concerns in the West that membership in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization could complicate efforts to dissuade Tehran from continuing activities that could be used to develop nuclear weapons.

Mottaki said Iran remained open to cooperation with International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N. nuclear watchdog.

[fasttense]

1. A move to protect itself from the likes of bush and dick. n/t