Zarif Defends Government Position at Caspian Summit: We Found the Greatest Benefit for Iran

In renewed defense of Hassan Rouhani’s government’s position and actions regarding the legal regime of the Caspian Sea, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif says the new convention did not establish any border or territorial determination, and both notions of Iran having 50 percent or 11 percent of the Caspian Sea are “incorrect,” “unfounded,” and “imaginary.”

Zarif defended Tehran’s presence at the Aktau meeting in Kazakhstan and the signing of the Caspian Sea legal regime convention on Wednesday night in a special news interview program on Iran’s second television channel.

Following speculations and reports after the Caspian summit regarding Iran’s share of the sea, Hassan Rouhani, Mohammad Javad Zarif, and Mahmoud Vaezi, chief of staff to the president, also rejected on Wednesday the claim that Iran was harmed among the five Caspian littoral states.

Leaders of the five Caspian littoral states signed the convention on the legal regime of the Caspian Sea in the city of Aktau, Kazakhstan last Sunday. The convention made no reference to the countries’ shares of the Caspian Sea, and resolution of this dispute was postponed to the future.

Nevertheless, immediately after this meeting, particularly in cyberspace, speculation arose that Iran agreed to a share less than its rightful portion.

In response to these speculations again on Wednesday night on Iranian television, Mohammad Javad Zarif said: “Negotiations for this convention have been ongoing for 21 years” and “the negotiations regarding this convention took place under the best conditions for Iran, when sanctions had been lifted and the international public opinion regarding Iran was good.”

According to Iran’s foreign minister, the Caspian Sea legal regime convention “not only preserves our territorial integrity, but also ensures that our friendly and warm relations with our northern neighbors are preserved and expanded.”

Iran’s foreign minister, contrary to the prevailing views on this issue, particularly in cyberspace, added that in this convention, the government found “the greatest benefit” for Iran’s national interests and welfare.

He described both speculations about Iran’s 50 percent and 11 percent share of the Caspian as “imaginary” and “lacking foundation,” saying that “neither 50 percent has any basis, nor 11 percent, which is based on an imaginary notion that the former Soviet Union wanted to impose on Iran and has never materialized and will not.”

In response to speculations about Iran “falling short” of its share, he added that in this convention, “no border or territorial determination has been made,” and for future negotiations, “preparations have been made so that God willing, the baseline will be preserved and drawn in accordance with the national interests of the country.”

Regarding the division of shares among the five countries in the Caspian, he also said that between Iran, Turkmenistan, and Azerbaijan, “no division of subsea resources or zones in which each country could exclusively use subsea resources has taken place.”

Zarif emphasized: “We did not reach agreement on the baseline. If someone is talking about determining shares, nothing has been settled for Iran regarding determining the scope. There is only one agreement between Russia and Kazakhstan regarding the subsea, which dates back to 20 years ago.”

Stating that negotiations on determining the baseline are scheduled to begin in three or four months, Iran’s foreign minister added: “Parliament has the opportunity to review this convention because it is not binding until it goes through legal proceedings.”

Following the signing of the convention and particularly after a BBC Persian interview with Rajab Safarov, described as “one of the Russian experts participating in negotiations on the Caspian Sea legal regime,” speculation arose that Iran gave up its 50 percent share and itself proposed 20 percent for each country, a speculation that Iran’s Foreign Ministry rejected and called “baseless.”

Mahmoud Vaezi, chief of staff to Rouhani, also said on this matter that “the discussion of a 50 percent share of Russia from the Caspian Sea has never been raised” and “foreign media raised points that unfortunately had some reflection domestically as well.”

Hassan Rouhani also said in a government cabinet session that “Russia, which once considered the vast majority of the Caspian Sea to belong to itself, is now satisfied with a 17 percent share of this sea.”

Iran has for years emphasized equal division of the Caspian Sea, but Russia and other countries signed bilateral agreements for dividing this body of water before signing the convention.

Before the collapse of the Soviet Union, Iran and the Soviet Union each had 50 percent of the Caspian Sea, but after this country divided among its successors, the shore of this sea actually came to five countries.

Source: Radio Farda