Russian MP calls for looking at admitting Iran into CSTO bloc

A Russian lawmaker has suggested that the issue of admitting Iran to the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), a post-Soviet Russia-led security bloc, be looked at, TASS reported on December 10.Andrey Kartapolov, Head of the State Duma (Russia’s lower chamber of parliament) Committee on Defense, recalled that a delegation from Iran had already taken part in a meeting of the CSTO Parliamentary Assembly.“I think that the issue of Iran’s potential membership in the CSTO should be looked at in a more concrete way.  Why not, after all? [The CSTO] is not a private club," he said in an interview with the Rossiya-1 television channel.Under the CSTO charter, any country sharing its goals and principles and ready to undertake commitments may seek membership in the organization.  A decision to this effect is made by the Collective Security Council.The Mehr News Agency (MNA) reported on December 10 that Abbas Goudarzi, a member of the Iran Parliament and the Iran-Russia Parliamentary Friendship Group, met with Anatoly Vyborny, the chairman of the Expert Advisory Council under the Council of the CSTO Parliamentary Assembly, in Moscow on Monday on the sidelines of the CSTO Parliamentary Assembly.  During the meeting, he reportedly announced that Iran's initiative to form an international alliance with Moscow against US sanctions is nearing completion.According to MNA, Goudarzi highlighted the importance of Iran and Russia ties for various reasons, including good neighborliness, the importance of the strategy of looking to the East, and confronting the unilateralism of the United States in the international arena.He reportedly described Iran and Russia's cooperation as growing and said that deepening and continuing comprehensive relations between the two countries is an imperative basis of mutual interests as both countries are under the cruel sanctions of the West.Referring to the establishment of the International Union against US Sanctions, Goudarzi said this initiative aims to neutralize the oppressive sanctions of the US, to form a new economic world without the US, and to conduct economic relations and trade without relying on the dollar.The CSTO includes six former Soviet states: Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Tajikistan.  The main goal of the organization is the defense of member states from external armed aggression.Meanwhile, Armenia Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan declared during a "Government Hour" in Parliament on December 4 that Armenia considers itself outside the CSTO and a return to the organization is now impossible.Pashinyan has repeatedly criticized the CSTO for failing to provide assistance during the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict.  Previously, he announced the suspension of Armenia's participation in the organization, including halting its funding and participation in military exercises held under the CSTO framework.