Shanghai Cooperation Org. Roundly Condemns War on Iran

The Shanghai Cooperation Organization wrapped up its summit in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, on September 1. Its members include Russia, China, India, Pakistan, Iran, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and the Kyrgyz Republic. India and China alone account for about 2.9 billion people, or 35% of the world’s population, and the SCO accounts for roughly 40% of all the people in the world. That plurality of the world’s population is not happy about the Netanyahu-Trump assault on Iran.

In attendance were China’s President Xi Jinping, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Iran’s President Massoud Pezeshkian, and the heads of state of the Central Asian member states.

At the end of the summit, member nations jointly issued the Bishkek declaration. So far only the Russian text is on the internet, but news services such as Al Jazeera have given lengthy summaries.

The Bishkek statement forthrightly condemned the Netanyahu-Trump war on Iran, saying that member states are concerned about strikes on Iranian territory, noting the civilian casualties and extensive economic damage.

The Trump administration wants to strong-arm other nations into helping it strangle Iran economically, but I think it has received from the rising Asian powers a resounding “No!”

The legal grounding for this protest is “the norms of international law” and the “UN Charter.” They don’t cite specifics, but the UN Charter forbids one UN member to launch a war on another UN member except under two conditions. One is self-defense and the other is where the UN Security Council designates a government as a source of world disorder (as happened when Iraq’s dictator Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait in 1990). Needless to say, Iran had not attacked the United States militarily in the period before February 28, 2026, when Trump abruptly let loose with 13,000 strikes on Iran in conjunction with Israel. And needless to say, the UN Security Council had not authorized this war. It was a pure war of aggression.

The SCO nations slammed Trump and Netanyahu even harder with the next paragraph, which Al Jazeera gives as “Member States express their sincere condolences to the people and Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran on the tragic death of Supreme Leader Seyyed Ali Khamenei, and to the families of the victims.”

The statement said, “Member States, reaffirming their support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Islamic Republic of Iran, advocate a resolution to the conflict solely through political and diplomatic means. In this regard, they welcome all efforts aimed at de-escalating the situation in the region.”

The SCO also upheld Iran’s right to enrich uranium for peaceful purposes, which is recognized by the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, but which is effectively denied to Iran by the US. Al Jazeera reports that the organization’s members asserted “‘their inalienable right’ to develop research, produce and use atomic energy ‘for peaceful purposes and to pursue equitable, sustainable, and mutually beneficial international cooperation in this area without discrimination.’” They branded attempts to curtail this right as “contrary to international law.”

“Member States note that the only possible way to ensure peace and stability in the Middle East is a comprehensive and just settlement of the Palestinian question.”

The statement called on nations to “combat terrorism, including the cross-border movement of terrorists, with the UN playing a central role by fully implementing relevant UN Security Council resolutions and the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy in accordance with the UN Charter and the principles of international law.”

But it condemned “double standards” and hypocrisy in the fight against terrorism. I think they mean that the US uses terrorist groups against its enemies even while condemning terrorism.