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Iran Slams US Comments on Tehran-Baku Caspian Boundary Disputes
Iran on Wednesday slammed United States comments on Tehran-Baku Caspian boundary disputes, saying that Washington is attempting to make the issue even more complicated.
US State Department spokesman Philipe Reeker said on Tuesday that Iran's reported violation of the Azeri airspace had been confirmed and that such actions are provocative, and counterproductive to efforts to achieve a peaceful solution to the Caspian boundary disputes.
Azeri television has claimed that an Iranian air force reconnaissance plane violated Azerbaijan's airspace over the Caspian Sea. But Iran immediately denied the report, saying that the plane had been on routine patrol over the Iranian territorial waters.
Describing the U.S. comments as "provocative" and "untrue," Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said that the interference of countries outside the Caspian region in the affairs of the five Caspian littoral states not only hinder settlement of their disputes, but also make that process even more complicated.
Iran strongly maintains that the littoral states, without relying on foreign parties, can cooperate with one another in settling their disputes through negotiations in such a way as to guarantee their own interests, Asefi added.
He further explained that Iran, along with other littoral states, would try to settle the Caspian disputes through continued negotiations within a normal course and by adopting "good will" measures.
The Caspian Sea is estimated to contain the world's third largest reserves of oil and gas after the Persian Gulf and Siberia. Among the five littoral states, Iran and Turkmenistan have pushed for division of the sea into five equal sectors while Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Russia contend that the sea floor should be divided into national sectors, which would leave Iran with the smallest slice.
Iran has recently protested Azerbaijan's "unauthorized" exploration at the Alborz oil field, which Tehran says is in its sector of the Caspian Sea, in cooperation with foreign companies, and sent a warship to the water area to warn against the exploration ships.
The five Caspian states is expected to hold a summit in October to deal with their disputes.
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