Tehran, Dec 7 (IANS) Iran supports the Shanghai Cooperation Organization’s (SCO) counter-terrorism plans and cooperation efforts, a senior Iranian diplomat has said.
Mehrdad Kiaei, director general for SCO and BRICS Affairs at Iran’s Foreign Ministry, made the remarks during a meeting with Ularbek Sharsheev, head of the SCO Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS), on the sidelines of a joint anti-terror exercise, the ministry said in a statement on Saturday.
Kiaei highlighted the central role of the SCO and RATS in Iran’s foreign policy, calling RATS a “window into the region’s future security architecture.”
He said Iran’s experience in combating terrorism enables its security and military institutions to play a “constructive and pivotal” role within the SCO’s counter-terrorism framework, Xinhua news agency reported.
Sharsheev praised Iran’s hosting of the five-day drill, Sahand-2025, held in East Azarbaijan Province, and noted Iran’s “active and influential” participation in RATS activities.
Sahand-2025 was the second joint counter-terrorism drill conducted by the SCO member states. The first, coded “Interaction-2024,” was held in northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in July last year.
The SCO is a Eurasian political, economic and international security organization grouping China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, India, Pakistan, Iran and Belarus.
Earlier on Monday, Iran began a five-day joint counterterrorism exercise with Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in East Azarbaijan province, bringing foreign contingents to a Revolutionary Guards base near Tabriz for what officials call a strategic readiness drill.
–IANS
int/rs
