TEHRAN -- Any decision on the legal regime of the Caspian Sea will be unacceptable without Iran’s consent, the president’s special envoy for Caspian Sea affairs Mohammad Mehdi Akhundzadeh has said.

The legal regime of the sea should be determined based on a consensus agreed by the five littoral states, Akhundzadeh told the Azerbaijani trend news agency in an interview published on Thursday.
“Without Iran’s agreement, no document on the legal regime of the sea can be signed,” he said on the sidelines of the fourth meeting of the deputy foreign ministers of the five littoral states.
“Today, negotiations over the determination of the Caspian Sea’s legal regime is (should be) based on the documents signed in 1921 and 1940 between the Soviet Union and Iran,” the veteran diplomat stated.
Elsewhere in his remarks, he said the littoral states have not taken any serious measures to reduce or prevent the pollution of the sea.
There are two outstanding protocols under negotiations, which can help prevent a further pollution of the sea, should the negations yield positive results, he noted