Iran: Caspian Sea Legal Regime Should Meet Demands of Littoral States

Mohammad Javad Zarif made the remarks in a Tuesday meeting with the foreign ministers of the Caspian Sea littoral countries, in Moscow.

Iran believes that all should opt for a comprehensive policy to meet the long-term interests of the whole neighboring states, Zarif announced in the gathering, Iranian Foreign Ministry’s official website reported.

The legal regime should meet demands and expectations of the entire littoral states, he added.

Unfortunately, some trans-regional powers see the Caspian Sea as the oil and gas resources and ignore the issue of environment as well as the need to preserve sustainable peace and stability in the region, he noted.

Zarif explained that the Islamic Republic of Iran wants the Caspian Sea to be "the sea of peace, friendship and stability."

He further called on the neighboring states to renounce arms race and militarization of the Caspian Sea to guarantee peace and stability in the Caspian region.

Such security will bring economic boom and welfare for the people of the region, he stressed.

Fortunately, all sides have signed the MoU on security of the Caspian Sea and all are eager to reach agreement on expansion of military cooperation among Caspian Sea littoral states, he said.

Zarif went on to say that the political leaders of the five Caspian Sea countries are determined to safeguard the water body as the sea of peace and friendship, development, mutual cooperation as well as good neighborliness.

The talks on safeguarding the environment at the Caspian Sea, the measures by the neighboring states to thwart degradation of the Caspian Sea environment, and protection of its marine ecosystem will continue, he said.

The top diplomat also voiced Iran’s preparedness to finalize the legal regime of the Caspian Sea so that it could be accepted unanimously by the littoral states.

High-ranking diplomats from the nations that border the Caspian Sea (Iran, Russia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan) attended the gathering in Moscow.

Since the formal dissolution of the Soviet Union, the Caspian littoral states have failed to agree on the sea’s legal status.

The Caspian Sea is the largest enclosed water body on earth by area, variously classed as the world’s largest lake or a full-fledged sea.

The Caspian Sea legal regime is based on two agreements signed between Iran and the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) in 1921 and 1940. The three new littoral states, established after the collapse of the Soviet Union, have not recognized the prior treaties, triggering a debate on the future status of the sea.