News / Iran Today

Convention On the Legal Status of the Caspian Sea

Tuesday, 21 August 2018 1:22 PM [ Last Update: Tuesday, 21 August 2018 1:22 PM ]

Caspian Sea agreement; good or bad? Caspian convention which has been reached in mid-August of the current year 2018 after 22 years of negotiations and meetings was criticized by many in the Iranian society. Yet, experts believe that this convention is good from two perspectives. First, it brings security and peace to the Caspian littoral countries and second, it helps protection of the marine environment. Caspian Sea has 5 littoral countries among which Iran has the smallest marine borders. For 22 years Iran and other 4 littoral countries of the Caspian Sea struggled to reach an agreement about their percentage share of sea and finally they signed an agreement on their shares of the sea. The Caspian is a lake and according to the International Law and the Law of the Sea countries living alongside a lake should settle their disagreements themselves. Once Iran suggested an equal share of 20% for each country but it was rejected. They believe that dividing the sea should be based on the marine borders of each country. This Iran gets the lowest share. The point is that before the 16th century, during the Safavid dynasty in Iran, its dominance expanded over the whole of the Caspian Sea. In addition, the highest amount of habitation is in the south of the Caspian Sea in Iran and the dependence of their lives to this sea. Given the aforementioned points, the principle of fairness says that although legally speaking Iran should get smaller shares because of its concave and unfavorable shore, it should be given more concessions.

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