Thwarting “draconian” US sanctions required new solutions, asserting that an expanding central Asian security organization could help defy Washington’s unilateralism, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said on Friday.
Raisi also called for an expansion of free trade among member countries of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) alongside financial and banking cooperation while speaking at a summit of the SCO in the Uzbek city of Samarkand.
Raisi stated, “The SCO needs to adopt new solutions and take specific measures to counter draconian US sanctions and its unilateralism, such as sustainable trade among its member states.”
A memorandum of obligations was signed by Iran on Thursday, which seeks to overcome the economic isolation imposed by US sanctions, to become a permanent member of the SCO.
Formed in 2001 as a talking shop for Russia, China, and former Soviet states in Central Asia, the organization expanded four years ago to include India and Pakistan, with a view to playing a bigger role as a counterweight to Western influence in the region.
