Iran on Monday began a five-day joint counterterrorism exercise with Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in East Azarbaijan province, bringing foreign contingents to a Revolutionary Guards base near Tabriz for what officials call a strategic readiness drill.
The Sahand-2025 drill, led by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Ground Forces, is underway in Shabestar near Tabriz, Iranian state media say.
SCO’s Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS) director Olarbek Sharshiev said invitations went to SCO members and observers for the exercise in October.
Designed under Iran’s Armed Forces General Staff with input from the foreign ministry and the SCO’s anti-terror body. It follows a 2024 all-member counterterrorism drill in Xinjiang.
Officials describe the drill as part of broader efforts to tighten intelligence-sharing, interdiction, and rapid response to cross-border militant networks, with scenarios covering joint pursuit of cells and trafficking rings and coordination through SCO intelligence channels.
The exercise is staged around Shabestar, northwest of Tabriz, near borders with Armenia, the Republic of Azerbaijan, and the Nakhchivan exclave – an area long used by smuggling networks and, at times, armed groups operating across rugged frontiers.
Local records identify the IRGC’s Imam Zaman Mechanized Brigade in Shabestar as the host site. Neither Tehran nor the SCO released unit counts or a full participant roster on Monday.
Iran says the focus is countering “terrorism, separatism and extremism,” the SCO’s long-standing “Three Evils” mandate.
While officials did not name a specific adversary, security analysts often point to Kurdish armed networks along Iran’s western borderlands, as well as trafficking routes for fuel, narcotics, and arms that cut across the South Caucasus.
Groups Tehran designates as terrorist in the northwest include the Kurdistan Free Life Party (PJAK), which has periodically clashed with Iranian forces.
The region has seen sporadic incidents over the past year. In June, a major fire and explosion hit a refinery complex in Tabriz, prompting a large emergency response; authorities did not immediately give a definitive public cause.
RATS – the SCO’s permanent security arm – coordinates shared watchlists and joint training among China, Russia, India, Iran, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.
Tehran’s engagement with the SCO has deepened since Iran became a full member in 2023 and Belarus joined in 2024. Iranian officials used the July 2025 SCO ministerial in China to court support from Russia and China after the June conflict, underscoring the bloc’s expanding security role beyond Central Asia.
Iranian media said the exercise commander would release further details on participating units and live-fire elements during the week.
