Fars News Agency

'Iran’s membership in the SCO will be discussed in the upcoming meeting in Astana on July 7," Li said on Monday.

He noted that Chinese President Xi Jinping, heading a high-ranking delegation, will attend the meeting, and said, "Iran’s presence is important for Beijing and China will welcome and support Iran's full membership in SCO."

SCO is an emerging economic and security alliance which is being touted as the counterweight to the West’s institutions.

Tehran currently has an observer status in the organization which is led by China and Russia. Iran expected the SCO to give a serious reading to its bid at the bloc’s summit in the Uzbek capital Tashkent in June.

But the body did not, prompting Tehran to take a back seat on its attempt. Reports from the summit at the time said SCO members had failed to initiate the accession process for Iran which expected to make it into the group after the lifting of Western sanctions.

SCO members played for time on Iran’s membership, citing the sanctions but the country’s nuclear agreement in July 2016 removed that hurdle.

In June, Russian President Vladimir Putin said there were no obstacles left for Iran to join the organization.

"We believe that after Iran's nuclear problem was solved and United Nations sanctions lifted, there have been no obstacles left (for Iran's membership in the SCO)," President Putin said in a speech at the SCO summit in Tashkent.

Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan are other full members of the SCO. Afghanistan, Mongolia and Belarus are also observer members.