Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO( and Iran Economic Diplomacy in Central Asia

The increasing depth of globalization effects has resulted in many countries seeking accomplishment in light of the regionalist perspective and its capacities. Some crucial economic factors in Central Asia such as oil and gas, pipelines, commodities, consumer markets, assembly industries, and the impact of SCO on regional trends have resulted in Iran's economic diplomacy's attention to the region inevitably. The question of this article is what are the most crucial capacities and challenges of Iran's economic diplomacy in Central Asia in light of SCO? This article, with descriptive- explanative method, argues SCO can play a significant role in Iran's economic diplomacy more than an organization. This role depends to recognizing capacities and fortifying them and challenges and mitigation of their effects. The findings of this article represent some capacities that can support economic diplomacy with Iran. These are organization members inclusive in the region, organization performance in line with Iran's Look to East Policy, and the definition of the new structure of economic cooperation. In contrast, axes such as the security approaches governing the organization and the non-economic structure, the interventions of extra-regional powers and their effect on restricting the non-security actions of the organization, and finally the approach linked with the doubts of some members towards Iran's international behavior are the most significant challenges facing Iran's economic diplomacy in the path of this institution.