Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) said it will consider Iran's application for full-fledged membership immediately after the sanctions against the country are lifted.
"The conditions under which a country under UN Security Council sanctions cannot obtain the status of a full member have been prescribed at the first stage of the SCO formation," said SCO Secretary General Dmitry Mezentsev.
"The organization wishes success to Iran in the completion of work on Iran's nuclear program to implement as expeditiously as possible the necessary legal procedures for sanctions' lifting. I believe that after this, the organization will immediately return to Iran's application for a full member status," Mezentsev was quoted as saying by Sputnik news agency.
He noted that cooperation with Tehran, especially in the last two or three years, and the interest exhibited by the Iranian side created "the basis of a new quality and depth of this country's cooperation with the association".
Moreover, in accordance with the decision of SCO heads of state adopted during the Russian chairmanship, India and Pakistan will soon become SCO member states, Mezentsev stressed.
The SCO is an intergovernmental organization that was founded in 2001 in Shanghai by the leaders of China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
Iran, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Mongolia have observer status in the organization while Turkey, Sri Lanka and Belarus are 'dialogue partners'.
In September, Iran's President Hassan Rouhani said SCO member states seek to strengthen all-out relations with Iran.
"Today, all regional countries and members of the SCO are interested in more and better relations with Iran in all fields, including economic ties," President Rouhani told reporters in Tehran on return from a two-leg tour of Central Asia.