Shanghai, the reasons for the delay in Iran membership

In recent years, various countries have expressed their willingness to join to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. Some of these countries, such as India and Pakistan, have become permanent members of this organization, and others remain as observers or partners. Meanwhile, the issue of Iran's permanent membership in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, which has been repeatedly raised over the past years, has faced various challenges and obstacles that have prevented this from happening until now. This is despite the fact that Iran's membership in this organization has significant benefits. Considering the importance of this issue, the present article seeks to address the barriers of Tehran's non-membership in this organization by looking at Iran's capacities and position in the organization and discuss the prospects of this issue. The research findings indicate that both internal factors and external factors have contributed to the non permanent membership of Iran in the SCO.