The Caspian Sea Convention: Iranian Analysis

 Parliament prevents a national disaster in favor of the Baku and UAE lobby

Haji Deligani: Caspian Sea Convention should not be ratified until Iran’s interests are secured

The deputy chairman of the Parliament’s Article 90 Commission, emphasizing that the Convention on the Legal Regime of the Caspian Sea should not be ratified before Iran’s interests are secured, said: “Until the four annexes related to this convention are presented and the assignment of the bed and sub-bed of the southern part of the Caspian Sea is not determined, the ratification of this convention will not be in Iran’s interest.”

Hossein Ali Haji Deligani, a representative of Shahinshahr, Borkhvar and Meimeh, in an interview with a Fars News Agency parliamentary reporter, regarding the bill related to the Convention on the Legal Regime of the Caspian Sea that was recently sent to the Parliament by the government, stated: The convention, which was signed in 2018 in the presence of the then president, had come to the Parliament once again, but fortunately it was returned to the government at that time and was not ratified.

He said: The fundamental problem with this convention, which was prepared and drafted by the then President, the then Foreign Minister, and the Foreign Ministry team headed by Mr. Zarif, and which the then President signed with the leaders of four countries, Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, and the Republic of Azerbaijan, is that if this convention is finalized, Iran’s share of the Caspian Sea will be reduced to a quarter from the 20 percent that is currently in the minds of the people.

The deputy chairman of the Article 90 Commission of the Parliament added: It seems that this issue should not be announced in the Parliament, nor should it be considered in the relevant commission, and it should remain silent for now until three steps are taken and Iran’s interests are guaranteed.

Haji Deligani continued: The first step is that at the same time as signing this convention, four other countries had committed to preparing, signing, and sending four related annexes to it within 6 months, which has not happened so far.

He said: These four annexes include the annex related to the shipping line in the Caspian Sea, the annex related to the delimitation of the baseline in the Caspian Sea, the annex related to access to the high waters of the Caspian Sea, and the annex related to the oil and gas transit line through the Caspian Sea, which was supposed to be prepared within 6 months, but after about eight years since the signing of the convention, this has not happened yet.

He continued: Therefore, until the four aforementioned annexes are submitted and the bed and sub-bed of the southern part of the Caspian Sea are not divided between the three remaining countries, the principle of this convention will not be in Iran's favor.

The deputy chairman of the Committee on Article 90 of the Parliament said: Therefore, it seems that the colleagues of the Parliament should not be willing to vote for this convention, because in part of it the issue of changing borders is raised, and if it is the basis of this convention, it could create changes in the borders.

Referring to Article 78 of the Constitution, Haji Deligani added: “According to Article 78 of the Constitution, any change in the country’s borders is prohibited, except for minor amendments that take into account the interests of the country, provided that it is not unilateral and does not harm the independence and territorial integrity of the country and is approved by four-fifths of the total number of representatives of the Islamic Consultative Assembly.”

He said: “This strictness, which is foreseen in the Constitution, is a precise and correct thing to do. Fortunately, until the Islamic Consultative Assembly of Iran ratifies this convention, none of the clauses of the convention that have been signed by the relevant countries and approved by their parliaments will be enforceable.”