Iran Calls on Caspian States to Comply with Current Legal Regime

Iran on Tuesday called on the Caspian Sea littoral states to safeguard security, stability and environment of the world's largest lake through compliance with the existing legal regime of the sea until the final approval of new agreements.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran sees it possible to resolve Caspian Seas issues and meet countries' interests merely through consultation and cooperation among the regional states and believes that all problems of the Sea can be solved only through partnership among the littoral states, and the interference of the trans-regional countries will only complicate the problems in the sea and creates new challenges,” said Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi, addressing a session of the special working group for the formulation of the legal regime of the Caspian Sea in Tehran. (Fars News Agency, 23 April)

Salehi said the legal regime that already exists in the region based on the agreements signed between Iran and the Soviet Union in 1921 and 1940 should be respected by the littoral states until new agreements are reached. The agreements shared the Caspian equally between the two countries. Since the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991, however, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan also want equal shares with Russia and Iran.

Iran could insist that the three new republics along with Russia could and should each get an equal share of what belonged to the Soviet Union; meaning Iran retaining its 50 percent share, and the other four countries each get 12.5 percent shares of the Caspian resources.

Ahmadinejad Visits Ashkhabad for Nowruz Celebration

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad visited Turkmen capital of Ashkhabad on Thursday to participate in the international Nowruz celebration ceremonies. Heads of states and high-ranking officials from twelve countries including presidents of Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Tajikistan attended the New Year ceremony.

After arriving at Ashkhabad airport, Ahmadinejad told reporters that Iran-Turkmenistan is “special.”
 
“Relations between Iran and Turkmenistan are special, deep, brotherly and cordial and the volume of ties between the two countries in the economic sector, particularly in the fields of energy and investment, and also in the cultural area are advancing on a regular basis,” Ahmadinejad said. (Fars News Agency, 22 March)

Ahmadinejad held talks with Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow. Esfandiar Rahim Mashaie and Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi accompanied Ahmadinejad during the visit.

File photo: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (FNA)

Pakistan-Iran gas pipeline inaugurated

Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad have today inaugurated a long delayed gas pipeline between the two countries. Work on the Iranian side of this new pipeline is nearly complete with the start of the construction of the Pakistani side beginning today.

Referred to as the "peace pipeline" the project has been on the drawing board in one form or another since talks about such a project began in 1994. Initially the Iranians wanted a gas pipeline to India but the Indians pulled out of negotiations in 2009 not long after it went into a nuclear deal with the United States.

The United States is against the project stating it would enable Iran to sell gas which would in turn serve to undermine sanctions which they impose under the pretext of pressuring Iran over its nuclear program. The United States suggests an alternative energy policy to help Pakistan meet its energy requirements. This would envision the importation of gas to that country from Turkmenistan through Afghanistan. A plan that has also been on the drawing board for years now.

Turkmenistan Stops Gas Exports to Iran

Iran’s Oil Minister Rostam Qasemi announced today that Turkmenistan has suspended supplying gas to Iran. Turkmenistan is contractually obliged to supply 14 bcm of gas per year to Iran through Korpeje-Kordkuy and Dauletabad-Sarakhs-Khangiran pipelines. (Trend, 15 November)

Iran’s annual gas production is 152 bcm, while it consumes some 153 bcm per year, and exports 10 bcm to Turkey. Turkmenistan’s move to stop gas exports to Iran would create shortage for the country during the winter high season, forcing Iran either to stop exports to Turkey or cut domestic consumption. Meanwhile, Turkmenistan has significantly increased its gas exports to China. 

Iran Pushes Construction of Railroad to Central Asia

Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said in Tehran that the construction of a railroad linking Iran to Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan is a “vital project” and urged Turkmen and Kazakh presidents to push for its speedy implementation. In 2007, the three countries signed an agreement to construct the 920-kilometer railway, although the work has not yet begun.

When constructed, the railroad will connect Iran to Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan, and on to Russia and China, and eventually serving as a transportation link between China and Europe.

Region Presidents in Tehran to Mark Norouz

Top to Bottom:

• The presidents of Afghanistan, Iraq, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Iran attending the Norouz (Nowruz) ceremonies marking the New Year 1390 (top two photos).
• Emomali Rahmonov, President of Tajikistan, arriving in Tehran's Mehrabad airport.
• Jalal Talabani, President of Iraq, arriving in Tehran's Mehrabad airport.
• Hamid Karzai, President of Afghanistan, rriving in Tehran's Mehrabad airport.

Top Photo: Mehr News Agency

Other Photos: IRNA

Iran, Turkmenistan inaugurate second phase of gas pipeline

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Turkmen President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov have inaugurated the second phase of a 1.2-billion dollar pipeline transferring Turkmenistan's natural gas into Iran at the northeastern Iranian city of Sarakhs, on the border with Turkmenistan.

The new 48-inch pipeline more than doubles Turkmenistan's annual gas exports to Iran, expected to reach 20 billion cubic meters.

Sarakhs, Sunday 28 November 2010.

Photo: IRNA (replacing an earlier file photo from Press TV)

Iran to Increase Gas Import

The National Iranian Gas Company announced today that the import of gas from Turkmenistan would reach 40 million cubic meters a day, a 5-fold increase from the current 8 MMcm/day [Shaha News Agecny, 26 April 2010]. Turkmenistan will commission a second gas pipeline by November to accommodate Iran’s growing imports.

Iran has the world’s second largest gas reserves (after Russia), and shares the world’s largest natural gas field (with Qatar) in the Persian Gulf waters, but the country does not produce sufficient natural gas for domestic use.

Aside from its need to increase natural gas production, Iran needs to raise its oil production and exports as well as expand its refining capacity to meet domestic demands for gasoline. NIOC, the country’s giant state-owned oil company, has estimated that Iran would need some $150 billion in new investments over the next decade to build up its energy sector. But the growing sanctions have resulted in an exodus of foreign oil and gas giants from Iran, bringing the level of foreign investments in oil and gas sector to near zero.

On Saturday, the IRGC, the country’s powerful branch of armed forces, announced that it could fill the gap in the country’s energy sector left by Western oil firms pulling out in the face of the new sanctions. As good a fighting force that IRGC might have become, it is clear that it would fail miserably if it wanted to transform itself into a giant oil and gas company, dependant on high technology and global capital markets to meet the investment needs of the Iranian energy sector.

First International Norouz Celebration in Tehran

In attendance, left to right:

- Gurbanguly Myalikguliyevich Berdymuhammedov, President of the Republic of Turkmenistan.
- Jalal Talabani, President of the Republic of Iraq.
- Grand Ayatollah Sayyid Ali Khamenei, Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
- Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, President of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
- Imomali Sharipovich Rakhmonov, President of the Republic of Tajikistan.
- Hamid Karzai, President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan.

The UN General Assembly recognized March 21st as the International Day of Norouz earlier in February, calling on world countries to draw on the holiday's rich history to promote peace and goodwill.

Photo: Khamenei.ir

Ahmadinejad's Triumph in Turkmenistan

M K Bhadrakumar has an interesting piece in Thursday's Asia Times Online, titled Russia, China, Iran redraw energy map, detailing President Ahmadinejad's successful state visit to Turkmenistan. Excerpts:

The inauguration of the Dauletabad-Sarakhs-Khangiran pipeline on Wednesday connecting Iran's northern Caspian region with Turkmenistan's vast gas field may go unnoticed amid the Western media cacophony that it is "apocalypse now" for the Islamic regime in Tehran.

(...)

The Turkmen-Iranian pipeline mocks the US's Iran policy. The US is threatening Iran with new sanctions and claims Tehran is "increasingly isolated". But Mahmud Ahmadinejad's presidential jet winds its way through a Central Asian tour and lands in Ashgabat for a red-carpet welcome by his Turkmen counterpart, Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov, and a new economic axis emerges. Washington's coercive diplomacy hasn't worked. Turkmenistan, with a gross domestic product of US$18.3 billion, defied the sole superpower (GDP of $14.2 trillion) - and, worse still, made it look routine.

There are subplots, too. Tehran claims to have a deal with Ankara to transport Turkmen gas to Turkey via the existing 2,577km pipeline connecting Tabriz in northwestern Iran with Ankara. Indeed, Turkish diplomacy has an independent foreign-policy orientation. Turkey also aspires to be a hub for Europe's energy supplies. Europe may be losing the battle for establishing direct access to the Caspian.

This follows other good economic news for Tehran's leadership, in the form of Iran's inflation rate plunging 1.6 percent for the month of November 2009. Central Bank of Iran chief Mohammad Bahmani says the annual inflation rate in the Iranian month of Aban, which ended on November 20, 2009, stood at 15.1 percent.

Bahmani expressed hope that the inflation rate would be brought down to around 10.5 to 11 percent by the end of Iranian year (ending March 20).

News from Iran

The news surrounding the summit of the heads of states of Caspian Sea region in Tehran and the coverage of the summit meeting dominated the coverage in Iranian media. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s trip to Tehran began with a report on a plot to assassinate him while attending the Caspian summit. The summit ended without approving a treaty on the legal status of the Caspian Sea. At stake was how the Caspian and its rich oil and gas resources should be divided among the five neighboring counties. On other regional news, Iran’s supreme leader called on all Muslim countries to boycott the US-sponsored Middle East peace conference scheduled for late November in Annapolis. On nuclear front, Iran expressed satisfaction in its talks with IAEA on the remaining questions over its nuclear program.

The Caspian Summit

· The heads of states of Iran, Russia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, and Turkmenistan met in Tehran to resolve legal and operational issues of the Caspian Sea; Iran and Soviet Union had signed a treaty in 1921 dividing the sea equally between the two countries.
· The collapse of Soviet Union in 1991 created four new independent countries neighboring the Caspian along with Iran; the summit could not agree on how to divide the Caspian and its rich oil and gas reserves; Iran has given up its 50% share under the 1921 treaty and has settled for a 20% equal shares for all the five countries; Russia, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan are pushing for a division based on the length of each country’s coastlines, giving Iran a mere 13% share.
· A meeting in Baku, Azerbaijan, was scheduled for October 2008 to finalize a treaty dividing the Caspian Sea.
· Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev said there is no more difference with Iran on Caspian Sea legal status which could not be resolved.
· Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed Caspian-Black Sea link; Putin called for digging a canal linking the Caspian and Black seas.
· Azerbaijani president Aliyev said Iranian and Russian oil and gas pipelines can be linked via Azerbaijan.
· Presidents from the Caspian Sea states meeting in Tehran declared they would never allow any country to use their soils as base to launch military attacks against Iran.

US-Iran Relations

· US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said only a united international front can stop Iran’s ambitions; Gates said he has yet to find the “illusive” Iranian moderate to work with; Gates said US will seek robust, far-reaching and strongly enforced economic sanction against Iran; he reiterated US position of keeping all options on the table.
· US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said President Bush must seek congressional approval before taking military action against Iran; Pelosi said President Bush has not requested congressional authority for military action in Iran; Pelosi also said she won't bring up a resolution labeling Iran's IRGC as a terrorist organization; US Senate has passed such resolution.
· Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei asked all Muslim countries to boycott an American-sponsored Middle East peace conference scheduled for 26 November in Annapolis, MD; Khamenei said that the aim of the meeting is to rescue “the Zionist regime.”

The Nuclear Issue

· Presidents from the Caspian Sea states meeting in Tehran supported Iran's right to research, produce and use nuclear energy for peaceful aims; Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad praised the Caspian declaration as “very strong.”
· US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Iran is “lying” about its nuclear program; German Chancellor Merkel said new round of UN sanctions against Iran is necessary if IAEA talks with Iran fail.
· Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Iran will show resistance in nuclear dispute with the West; Ahmadinejad said Iran will not withdraw one iota from its nuclear rights.
· Iran’s nuclear negotiator Javad Vaedi said Iran and IAEA are satisfied with their talks over Iranian centrifuges; Iran is meeting with IAEA to answer remaining questions about its nuclear program; An all-important IAEA chief’s report on Iran is due on 22 November.
· A meeting in Berlin of world powers on Iranian nuclear standoff was postponed; China objected to the meeting at a time when Dalai Lama was visiting US Congress in Washington.
· Russian President Vladimir Putin said Bushehr nuclear power plant will go into operation following talks in Tehran; Putin said Russia will pursue its commitment to treaty on the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons; Russian contractors have repeatedly set back the completion date for Bushehr.

Major Regional Storylines

· Iran’s president Ahmadinejad said the existence of Israel is an insult to human dignity; Ahmadinejad said Europe, Canada or the US could give a part of their own land so that Jews in Israel can establish their country; he said Palestinians should not pay the price because Europeans committed crimes against Jews in World War II
· Israeli air strike on Syria on 6 September targeted a partly constructed nuclear reactor site; New York Times reported Israel carried out the raid to demonstrate its determination to snuff out even a nascent nuclear project in the region; it would have been years before the Syrians could have used the reactor.
· Turkey warned against incursion into northern Iraq; Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said would send military into Iraq to pursue Turkey’s Kurdish rebels from Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) holed up in Iraq; the Iraqi government called on Turkey to respect Iraq’s sovereignty.

Major Domestic Storylines

· Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini urged global protests over Koran burning by US soldiers in Afghanistan; Hosseini asked Islamic governments not to stand idly by in the face of this offence; he expressed hatred for “shameful action by US occupiers.”
· Russian Special Services warned of a plot to assassinate Russian President Vladimir Putin while attending a summit of Caspian region heads of states in Tehran; suicide bombers and kidnappers were training to kill or capture Putin on his visit, report said; Putin arrived in Tehran despite reports of possible assassination attempts on his life; he invited Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to travel to Moscow for talks.
· Commander of Iran’s army, Maj. Gen. Salehi, said enemy aggression will receive crushing response (3); he said enemy does not dare to take any military action against Iran; Iran’s president Ahmadinejad also highlighted power of Iranian army (3); Ahmadinejad said the US does not dare to invade Iran; IRGC Brig. Gen. Ali Fazli said Iran’s military power is more advanced than before.
· A Japanese student was kidnapped in Iranian Baluchistan; Iran’s foreign minister Manouchehr Motaki said officials have identified whereabouts of abductees; Mottaki added Iran will make efforts to resolve the issue.

The Caspian Summit: Iran Backs Down

Caspian Sea

The Caspian summit ended in Tehran earlier today. The Kazak president voiced pleasure with preliminary agreements at expert level on the thorny issue of the division of the Caspian Sea and its rich oil and gas resources among the five bordering countries.

Kazakhstan, along with Russia and Azerbaijan, had been a staunch advocate of the median line legal regime, whereby the Caspian is divided based on the length of coastal lines of each country. Under such arrangement, Iran’s share would be reduced to just 13.6%.

In 1921, Iran signed a treaty with the Soviet Union dividing the Caspian in half between the two countries. The collapse of the Soviet Union and its replacement on Caspian shores with four independent states of Russia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, and Turkmenistan did not legally annul the treaty. Under the international law, Iran would still own 50% of Caspian, and the Soviet’s share should have been divided among the four states replacing it.

During the Khatami administration, the Iranian government agreed to divide the Caspian according to the “spirit” of the 1921 treaty, thereby giving the five states, including Iran, an equal 20% share of the Caspian. The “letter” of treaty, however, had guaranteed the 50% share. The opposition has since accused the government of relinquishing Iran’s rights similar to capitulations at Gulistan and Turkmenchay in 1800’s when Persia renounced its rule over the present-day Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan and handed them to Tsarist Russia.

The Ahmadinejad’s administration is apparently ready to go a step further and accept Russia’s median line formula which would give Iran a mere 13% share of the Caspian. This issue will have the potential of becoming the single most important factor of de-legitimizing the Islamic Republic’s rule in Iran.

The final legal status of the Caspian was scheduled to be formally agreed upon during the next summit in Baku in October 2008.

The Caspian Summit: What’s At Stake?

A Caspian Sea summit between the leaders of Iran, Russia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Turkmenistan will take place tomorrow in Tehran. At stake is how to divide the Caspian Sea and its oil and natural gas resources among the five. Caspian Sea is believed to contain the world's third-largest energy reserves.

In 1921, Iran and Soviet Union signed a treaty dividing the Caspian Sea between them. Seventy years later, the Soviet Union collapsed and now five independent states bordered the Caspian. Three alternatives emerged as how to divide the sea.

• Iran: 50%; four former Soviet republics: 50% - Iran and Soviet Union had signed a treaty in 1921 dividing the sea in half. The collapse of USSR was unrelated to Iran and could not possibly have any effects on Iran’s share. The four independent republics need to divide their own share among themselves. This view is strongly favored by Iran’s opposition groups and a number of political and academic figures in Iran.
  
  
• 20% each: five equal parts for each independent state bordering the Caspian. The governments of the Islamic Republic and Turkmenistan favor this alternative. The Iranian government argues that according to the “spirit” of 1921 treaty, the Caspian and its resources should be divided equally among bordering states. The Iranian opposition regards the government’s position as treason similar to Gulistan and Turkmenchay treaties of 1813 and 1828 with Russia when Persia renounced its rule over present-day Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan, comprising 18 Cities of Caucasus.

• The Median Line: Russia, Azerbaijan, and Kazakhstan want the Caspian divided along the so-called media line, a division based on coastal sovereignty. Such division would leave Iran with a 13.6% share. Russia, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan have signed their own bilateral deals dividing 64% of the sea among them. Iran does not recognize the agreements, but those countries have used the deal to start developing oil and gas resources in northern Caspian.

Iran analysts do not expect any resolution of the legal status of the Caspian Sea during Tuesday’s summit meeting. The leaders of the five countries are expected to pass a declaration agreed upon on 20 June by their foreign ministers in Tehran. The declaration will not resolve the sea demarcation issue.