Iranian Parliament Ratifies Treaty on Caspian Sea Security
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – The Iranian lawmakers on Tuesday approved a bill that allows the administration to work in close cooperation with the Caspian Sea littoral countries under a treaty to ensure security across the water body.
The treaty, already signed by administrative officials from the nations that border the Caspian Sea (Iran, Russia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan), requires that they cooperate for maintaining the security of the sea on the basis of the international law and principles stipulated in the United Nations Charter.
According to the agreement, the five countries should also engage in combatting terrorism, organized crimes, arms trafficking, illegal drug trafficking and pirate attacks.
Back in April, foreign ministers of the Caspian Sea littoral countries held a meeting in Russia’s capital of Moscow. Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif had announced in the gathering that the Caspian Sea legal regime must be drawn up in a way to meet demands and expectations of the present and future generations of the littoral states.
Iran believes that all should opt for a comprehensive policy to meet the long-term interests of the whole neighboring states, Zarif said at the time.
Since the formal dissolution of the Soviet Union, the Caspian littoral states have failed to agree on the sea’s legal status.
The Caspian Sea is the largest enclosed water body on earth by area, variously classed as the world’s largest lake or a full-fledged sea.
The Caspian Sea legal regime is based on two agreements signed between Iran and the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) in 1921 and 1940. The three new littoral states, established after the collapse of the Soviet Union, have not recognized the prior treaties, triggering a debate on the future status of the sea.
