Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Wednesday that Iran wants a 20% share of the Caspian Sea seabed, dismissing claims that its rights could be compromised by the recently signed agreement on the legal status of the sea.
"The Caspian Sea legal regime not only safeguards our territorial integrity, but also helps us maintain and expand friendly relations with our northern neighbors," he said in an interview broadcast live on state TV on Wednesday, ISNA reported.
The leaders of the five littoral states—Iran, Russia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan—signed a regional convention regarding the legal regime of the world's biggest enclosed body of water in a summit in Aktau, Kazakhstan, on August 12.
The minister rejected media reports claiming that Iran's share of the inland sea might be limited to 11% or that the country had given up its right to 50% of the Caspian Sea in early negotiations. For over two decades, the littoral states have argued over how to divide the sea. The dispute began with the 1991 disintegration of the Soviet Union.
Future Talks
Baselines as well as issues related to seabed will be discussed and settled in future meetings, Zarif said, adding that negotiations over baselines are likely to begin in three to four months.
In agreements signed in 1921 and 1940, it was not stipulated that Iran is entitled to 50% of the sea, the foreign minister explained.
It is also not correct that the country's share has been reduced to 11%, he said, adding that Iran has never allowed any infringement on its right to 20% of the seabed resource after the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
"This convention is a source of pride for Iran, and we should not allow this achievement to become a source of despair among the Iranian people," Zarif noted.
Best Conditions
Asked why the agreement was signed at a time when Iran is under international pressure as a result of the US withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal and the reimposition of sanctions, he said, "Negotiations over the convention were held under the best circumstances and at a time when the sanctions had been lifted."
Even now Iran is not in a weak position and it is the United States that is isolated in the international arena, he added. "I believe this convention serves our national interest in the best possible manner."
