Iran Calls on SCO Countries to Strengthen Arms Control and Anti-Terrorist Cooperation

MOSCOW, April 24. /TASS/. Iran calls on the countries of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) to strengthen arms control and anti-terrorist cooperation in order to promote peace in Eurasia, Iranian Ambassador to Russia Kazem Jalali said. "We need to use the SCO's crisis-settlement potential and organize special meetings to strengthen arms control mechanisms. We emphasize the importance of efforts toward creating am atmosphere of security and stability in the region and think that regional and multilateral cooperation in the area of disarmament and arms control should be used as a key strategy to counter shared threats," he said during a round of consultations on international affairs and regional security at the level of SCO deputy foreign ministers in Moscow. "Joint efforts to counter terrorism and illegal arms trafficking will serve as a guarantee of stability and security in the region," he stressed. Set up on June 15, 2001 in Shanghai, the CSO initially included six countries, namely Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, China, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. India and Pakistan joined the organization in 2017, Iran - in 2023, and Belarus - in 2024.