TEHRAN -- Iran participated as an observer in a four-day Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) counter-narcotics and counter-terrorism operation codenamed “Caspian Lighthouse,” with a senior Iranian police representative receiving a commemorative medal from the CSTO’s anti-drug coordination council.
The operation, commanded from Almaty, Kazakhstan, involved nearly 9,000 personnel from specialized counter-terrorism and anti-drug bodies of Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan, along with more than 2,000 specialists from Iran and China participating as observers. 
The operation ran from Oct. 26 to Oct. 30, according to a separate CSTO statement cited by Russian state media.
Colonel Ali Ghorbani Bayegi, the Iranian Law Enforcement Command’s representative in Russia, attended a meeting of the CSTO Coordination Council of Heads of Competent Authorities for Combating Drug Trafficking in Almaty, where he proposed measures to strengthen regional cooperation. 
He said Iran has suffered heavy human and social costs in its drug fight, with more than 12,000 professional anti-narcotics police personnel martyred or wounded since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. He said Iranian police seized 374,860 kilograms of narcotics in 2025.
The CSTO council awarded Ghorbani a commemorative medal marking the 20th anniversary of its founding, in recognition of his implementation of duties in cooperation with the council and active participation in organizing the regional “Caspian Lighthouse” operation.
The operation also involved law enforcement, border, customs, security and financial intelligence units from CSTO member states, as well as observers from Iran, China, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, the Eurasian Group on Combating Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism, and Commonwealth of Independent States customs bodies.
CSTO data cited by Russian media reported that the operation uncovered 790 drug-related crimes, including 81 cases of smuggling, dismantled 101 drug gangs, and seized more than 11.4 tonnes of controlled substances, including about 11 tonnes of narcotics, 9.4 kilograms of psychotropic substances, 23 kilograms of potent substances and eight tonnes of precursors. 
More than 202,000 drug-containing plants were seized, 213 firearms and over 1,722 rounds of ammunition were confiscated, and 376 people were detained for drug-related crimes, including 135 foreign nationals from non-CSTO states. Fifty-nine wanted individuals were also arrested.
The CSTO is a Eurasian intergovernmental military alliance originally signed in Tashkent in 1992 by Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan. It became a regional international organization in September 2003 with its headquarters in Moscow. 
Armenia’s participation has been in question since late 2024 following Yerevan’s statements about possibly suspending membership, though this has not visibly disrupted the activities of the five other members.