The fact that Iran hosted and headed the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) bi-annual anti-terrorism drill, called Sahand-Counterterrorism-2025 and which is to take place in December 4, near Tabriz, highlights how Tehran is increasingly influencing the formation of the changing security order in Eurasia. The exercise is the second SCO-wide anti-terrorism exercise after the 2024 ones in the Xinjiang region of China, and it was held at the moment when the organization is trying to improve the collective responses to the asymmetric threats.
After becoming a complete SCO member in 2023, Iran has made a priority to integrate into the structures of strategy and operation of the bloc. Hosting the exercise is a symbolic claim of legitimacy as well as a move towards institutionalizing its security alliances with key powers such as Russia, China, India and Pakistan.
A strategic platform for legitimacy and influence
To Iran, the involvement in SCO activities is another avenue in which it can conduct its diplomatic activities in the face of isolated western powers. It gives Tehran access to a regional structure, which upholds the values of sovereignty and non-intervention, which is a multilateral response to Western-led security blocs like NATO and defensive programs of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). Such a two-pronged approach allows Iran to demonstrate its cooperation in the area of counterterrorism and reestablish its image as a stabilizer and not a destabilizer of the region.
Reinforcing its Eurasian identity
The fact that Sahand exercise has been hosted also speaks volumes of Iranian interest in aligning to the Eurasian geopolitical sphere to which the limits of Middle Eastern security are no longer in place. With the SCO taking an interest in the Persian Gulf beyond its Central Asian focus, the active participation of Tehran makes it a point of contact between the two areas which is also beneficial as it adds to its strength in security and energy politics.
Enhancing Operational Readiness And Multilateral Coordination
Intelligence sharing, ground operation, and digital counterterrorism simulations are part of the Sahand-Counterterrorism-2025 drills, which involve the participation of the SCO in the form of the Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS). The aim is to enhance detection, surveillance, and countering of cross-border terrorist groups acting via narcotics, arms, and human trafficking web of networks which capitalize on regional weak spots.
The security apparatus of Iran, especially the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the Ministry of Intelligence is of key importance in coordinating such joint maneuvers. They were included in multilateral exercises; this is a pragmatic move by other SCO members to appreciate the intelligence-gathering skills and the experience of asymmetric warfare that Iran has acquired as a result of fighting in Iraq and Syria.
Information sharing and capacity building
In addition to the direct military element, the 2025 exercise is also very intensive in terms of information sharing and capacity building. The participants will seek to harmonize databases, create safe communication channels, and educate staff on the work of counter-propaganda against the background of recruiting extremists through the Internet.
These are supplemented by the recently adopted Program of Cooperation on combating extremist ideology (2026-2030) by the SCO, which will make sure that counterterrorism policies are harmonized by member states in terms of education, digital surveillance, and legal alignment of counterterrorist strategies. To Iran, this framework provides legitimacy as well as access to the joint intelligence infrastructure and enhances its domestic counterterrorism systems based on experience.
Iran’s Diplomatic And Strategic Signaling Through SCO Exercises
By hosting the counterterrorism exercise of SCO, Iran will be able to demonstrate its leadership qualities in the area of security, as well as consolidate its relationship with Moscow and Beijing, two powers that have vital roles in Iranian economy and defense policies. The drill is also a symbolic act that Tehran can work multilaterally despite the Western economic sanctions and diplomatic isolation.
In the case of Russia and China, the addition of Iran gives the SCO a strategic depth in terms of its security presence. Tehran is considered a buffer on the southern security expedient by Moscow, and as a port to the Gulf and Mediterranean trade routes within the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) by Beijing. The above interests overlap hence the role of Iran is becoming crucial in influencing the regional posture of the SCO.
Building security architecture resilience
The active involvement of Iran in the SCO shows that this country is pursuing a long-term goal of institutionalizing security cooperation without the involvement of the West. The Sahand exercise is an example of Iran trying to be involved in developing resilient, multipolar security structures that can be used in response to non-conventional threats such as terrorism, cyber attacks, and hybrid operations.
These engagements are a means by which Tehran is also aiming to create interoperability between Eurasian security systems, especially in data intelligence and electronic warfare. The expected use of Iranian drones and surveillance systems in the exercises of 2025 highlights technological aspirations of Tehran and increase in the level of the defense industry.
Implications For Regional And Global Security Arrangements
The SCO counterterrorism strategy focuses on the rise of non-Western models of security cooperation, which pay more attention to multilateral coordination and sovereignty. The SCO system encourages state-based security solutions contrary to the western alliances that tend to condition security cooperation with political reforms. This will enable member nations, especially Iran to participate in counterterrorism without the political interference of external powers.
The 2025 Sahand exercise is therefore not only a tactical training exercise, but also a demonstration of the idea of collective defense against diffuse transnational threats. It has been designed to reflect a changing trend in the global situation where regional powers are assuming the major responsibility of their security and they are not so dependent on models of Western interventionism.
Impact on US and NATO regional policies
The fact that Iran is increasingly engaging in SCO military and intelligence coordination asks the question of the effectiveness of the U.S. containment policies in Eurasia. Washington attempts to sanction and pressure Tehran to isolate the government are colliding more with the growing non-Western associations Tehran is making.
Analysts observe that the SCO activity of Iran diversifies its strategic dependencies and reduces the risk of isolation, which opens new channels of security and technology transfer of Russia and China. This is the driving force that is pushing NATO and American allies into reevaluating the regional defense postures especially in the Caspian region, Persian Gulf, and Central Asia areas where there is a growing influence of war.
Evolving Security Alignments And Future Prospects
The development of the SCO into a working security block including Iran as an active group member is an indication of the appearance of a multipolar counterterrorism system. The Sahand-Counterterrorism-2025 exercise summarizes the maturity in the work of the bloc and the Iranian intention to become a regional stabilizer. However, its sustainability will be determined by how well the SCO manages to keep together its variance of member interests and multiple external alliances.
The involvement of Iran is also something that can cast doubt on how much the organization can go in terms of integrating defense relations without becoming a military alliance, a situation that both Beijing and Moscow seem hesitant to achieve. Nevertheless, due to the changes in regional crises, the utility of such coordinated exercises in dealing with asymmetric threats can force institutionalization further.
Such exercises in 2025 are therefore not just a case of tactical coordination but a sign of a strategic shift in the Eurasian security whereby Iran becomes both the point of convergence, ambition and geopolitical re-orientation. The success of this new Security order and its validity will be determined by how Tehran will strike a balance between its aggressive regional policy and its SCO interests as a collective entity.
