Despite rumors, Iran says it's not surrendering share of Caspian Sea
In response to reports that the government was giving up too much of its control of the Caspian Sea, a former Iranian deputy foreign minister explained the latest on talks over the sea with Iran, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Russia.
Following various reports surfacing on the internet over Iran conceding too much of its share of the Caspian Sea, a senior Iranian diplomat has denied it, saying the inland lake is not a “watermelon” that must be divided into five equal parts.
In an interview Dec. 12, former Deputy Foreign Minister for Asia-Pacific Affairs Ebrahim Rahimpour stated that Iran’s status regarding its share of the Caspian Sea is “good.”
Prior to the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Caspian Sea belonged only to Iran and Russia. But following the end of the Soviet Union, three new countries — Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan — joined the nations considering themselves shareholders of the Caspian Sea. Now the five countries are negotiating over their share of the world's largest inland body of water.
Rahimpour said that “50% of the sea in the northern part is divided between Russia and Kazakhstan, and this is not in our hands. In another part that is [related to] Iran, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan … Iran has the least [amount of] coast.”
