IRAN could soon become a full member of the the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation (SCO), Russia’s foreign minister said yesterday.

Sergei Lavrov was speaking at the joint SCO/Brics summit a day after historic enemies India and Pakistan applied for membership of the Eurasian security bloc.

He told a press conference in Ufa, the capital of the Russian republic of Bashkortostan, that the SCO would help the two countries overcome their differences and added that he welcomed the prospect of the SCO summit approving Iran’s application.