Iran would not be able to get the status of an associate member, as the SCO has no associate members but observer nations, Lavrov told a press conference after an SCO foreign ministers meeting in the Tajik capital. Iran is an observer nation of the SCO, Xinhua reported.

The foreign ministers did not discuss the enlargement of the SCO at the meeting but they agreed to take measures to enable all observer nations to participate in all the activities of the organization that interest them, he said.

The SCO accepted Mongolia as an observer to the organization in 2004 and offered observer status to Pakistan, Iran and India in 2005.

The SCO, founded in 2001, groups China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. The heads of state of the six member countries will gather in Dushanbe for an SCO summit next month.