AKIPRESS.COM - Iran’s top diplomat has said any non-littoral military presence in the Caspian region is inadmissible, ITAR-TASS reported citing Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif on Tuesday.
“Maintaining the Caspian Sea as a water area of peace, friendship and stability; refraining from the arms race; giving up the use of force and the inadmissibility of non-littoral military presence are the major prerequisites for guaranteeing peace and stability in the region,” he said at a ministerial conference of the five Caspian littoral countries – Russia, Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan.
“Security itself will facilitate economic prosperity,” he said.
Zarif noticed he was satisfied with the signing of an agreement on security in the region. “We would like to reach mutual understanding on ways of military construction and cooperation [in the region],” he continued.
“Unfortunately, certain non-regional players consider the Caspian Sea as the only source of oil and gas and forget about the environment,” Javad Zarif said. “Iran believes that it is necessary to take steps that would meet multilateral long-term and joint interests.”