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Significance
SCO membership will be Tehran’s first experience of a regional defence-security organisation since it withdrew from the Central Treaty Organization (CENTO) in 1979. Iran’s defence policy since 1988 has been one of ‘self-help’ and ‘deterrence’, while the country faces security issues around terrorism, religious extremism, arms and drug smuggling, and cyber threats.
Impacts
Iran will benefit diplomatically from SCO membership as it attempts to reduce its international political isolation.
International sanctions, particularly those imposed by the United States, will undermine Iran’s potential economic benefits from membership.
Iran could gain access to more markets for sales of its military hardware, including unmanned aerial vehicles (drones).
Keywords:
Iran,
ME/NAF,
Afghanistan,
Armenia,
Belarus,
China,
Georgia,
India,
Iraq,
Israel,
Kazakhstan,
Kyrgyzstan,
NATO,
Pakistan,
Russia,
Syria,
Tajikistan,
Turkey,
Ukraine,
United Kingdom,
United States,
Uzbekistan,
international relations,
defence,
military,
regional,
security,
sanctions
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2023
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