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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, September 24, 2002

Iran Reiterates Opposition to Any Bilateral Accords on Caspian Sea

Iran has reiterated its opposition to any bilateral accords on the status of the oil-rich Caspian Sea, local press reported on Tuesday.


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Iran has reiterated its opposition to any bilateral accords on the status of the oil-rich Caspian Sea, local press reported on Tuesday.

Iran's opposition was voiced late Monday by Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi in a response to a bilateral accord signed between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Azeri counterpart Geidar Aliyev regarding the demarcation of their common border in the Caspian Sea on Monday.

Asefi said any agreement should be based on mutual understanding and respect by all the five littoral states, adding that "only a status that has been agreed upon by the five states will be solid and last long."

The Russian-Azeri accord has been long awaited by investors hoping to exploit the sea, which is believed to hold the world's third largest oil and gas reserves after Russia and the Persian Gulf.

Commenting on the Russian-Azeri accord, Asefi said "this type of accord signed on a bilateral basis is invalid in our eyes."

The five littoral states hold different views on the Caspian Sea. Russia, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan, with longer coastlines, want the sea divided into portions based on the length of each country's shoreline, a way which would give Iran only a 13 percent share.

Iran, with the support of Turkmenistan, insists the sea should be divided into five equal sectors, which would give Iran control of prospective oil fields near the central part of the sea that Azerbaijan insists belongs to it.

Iran calls for a condominium or common sovereignty on the Caspian Sea and considers any unilateral deals for energy exploration in the sea as null and void before the issue of its legal regime is settled.

Iran believes the agreements of 1921 and 1940 between the former Soviet Union and Iran are valid until a new legal regime of the sea is drawn up.


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