Ghasemi: Negotiations on the Caspian Sea Maritime Borders Will Not Conclude Soon

The spokesperson for Iran's Foreign Ministry has reacted to reports regarding the determination of maritime borders of the Caspian Sea countries, stating that negotiations in this regard will not reach a conclusion in the near future. Sergey Lavrov, the Russian Foreign Minister, stated on December 6 that following a meeting with the foreign ministers of the Caspian Sea coastal countries, the draft legal regime of the Caspian Sea is 'almost ready' and it is planned to be signed at the next summit of the presidents of the Caspian coastal countries in Kazakhstan next year. These remarks were met with a strong reaction from Ebrahim Rahimpour, the Deputy Minister for Asia, Oceania, and Commonwealth Affairs of Iran, who criticized claims that 'Iran's share in the Caspian Sea has been determined.' Now, Bahram Ghasemi, the spokesperson for Iran's Foreign Ministry, has also responded to news regarding the determination of maritime borders, stating on Friday, December 15, that the convention on the legal regime of the Caspian Sea only addresses principles and generalities, and 'negotiations on boundary delimitation' will not reach a conclusion in the near future. He pointed out that 'issues related to boundary delimitation have not only not been finalized but have not even been on the agenda of the ministers' meeting.' Despite these statements, details related to the meeting of the foreign ministers of the five Caspian coastal countries, which took place ten days ago in Moscow, remain unclear. It was expected that at the end of this meeting, all ministers would participate in a press conference, but only Sergey Lavrov, the Russian Foreign Minister, briefly told reporters that all obstacles to presenting the legal regime convention to the summit of the five countries' leaders have been removed. Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Iran, and Azerbaijan are the coastal countries of the Caspian Sea that have negotiated the legal regime of the Caspian Sea multiple times since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. However, so far only Russia, Kazakhstan, and Azerbaijan have reached bilateral and trilateral agreements among themselves and divided the seabed. Previously, Russia, Azerbaijan, and Kazakhstan preferred to determine the maritime borders of the Caspian coastal countries based on the median line (the shape and length of the coasts). Turkmenistan had also leaned towards this formula in recent years, but Iran opposed this method of delimitation, as its share would amount to about 13% of the total sea, while Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan would each have more than 20%, and Russia and Azerbaijan would each have about 19%. The position of Iranian officials has changed from 50% to 20% of the Caspian Sea since the collapse of the Soviet Union, but it is now unclear what position Iran holds regarding the calculation of its maritime borders. Nevertheless, Bahram Ghasemi states that 'Iran has not revised its positions regarding delimitation.' He also emphasized that 'issues related to the boundaries and shares of each country will be negotiated and detailed in other agreements and protocols.' Ghasemi further added, 'Efforts will be made to sign the convention on the legal regime of the Caspian Sea after finalizing its text at the upcoming summit of the presidents of the five Caspian coastal countries, the date of which will be agreed upon later.' In this context, Lavrov announced an agreement among the coastal countries on 'key issues' of the legal regime of the Caspian Sea.