TEHRAN - Ebrahim Rahimpour, the former deputy foreign minister, has said that Iran was against inclusion of the terms “baseline” and “division” in theCaspian Sea legal regime.

“Despite other Caspian Sea littoral states, Iran was against adding two issues of baseline and division of the sea to the recent convention,” he told the Mehr news agency.

He also noted that failure to inform the public caused the commotion about the convention.

“What they say about dividing the Caspian Sea is wrong. It was our condition to avoid inclusion of such issue in the recent convention. The issue is supposed to be discussed in future months. The document of the recent convention has been published and correct position can be taken after studying it,” he explained. 

The five Caspian states – Iran, the Republic of Azerbaijan, Russia, Kazakhstan, and Turkmenistan - signed the Caspian Sea legal status on August 12 in the Kazakh port city of Aktau. 

The agreement has created many debates about the share of Iran among Iranians.

The convention was signed by presidents of the littoral states.

They agreed a legal framework for sharing the world’s largest inland body of water, which bridges Asia and Europe and is packed with oil, gas and sturgeon.

NA/PA