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Iran Warns Azerbaijan Not to Fuel "Misunderstanding" Over Oil Rights
TEHRAN, July 25 (News Agencies) - Iran's foreign ministry has warned Azerbaijan to avoid "any action likely to intensify misunderstandings" between the two countries over oil rights in the Caspian Sea, the state news agency IRNA said Wednesday.
The statement by foreign ministry spokesman Hamid-Reza Asefi followed a rise in tension between the two neighbors Tuesday after an Iranian warship aimed its guns at an oil research vessel operating in disputed waters.
Asefi said Iran was defending its "legitimate rights and interests" in the Caspian, and in particular the oil field known to Tehran as Alborz and to Baku as Alov-Sharg-Araz.
"The Azeri republic and (foreign) oil companies have learned of Iran's diplomatic stances over the Alborz oil field," he said. "The Azeri republic is expected to understand sympathetic pieces of advice given by the Islamic Republic and keep away from any action which may intensify misunderstandings."
Asefi said Iran wanted early talks among the states bordering the Caspian to lay down rules on the sharing of the sea bed, which is believed to contain large quantities of oil.
Iran wants to divide the inland sea into five equal parts, but Russia and Azerbaijan say it should be split in line with national boundaries, which would give Iran a smaller slice.
Azerbaijan's Foreign Minister Vilayat Guliyev told AFP Tuesday that his country would not give in to Iran's claims. "We will not get into a war but we will stand up for our rights," he said.
Western oil companies that have committed billions of dollars to developing the Caspian made it clear they wanted no part in any international dispute and appealed to the two countries to resolve the issue.
BP Amoco, whose research vessel Geophysic-3 was scared off by the Iranian warship, said it was suspending operations in the disputed field, and Nick Browne, Britain's ambassador in Tehran, said British companies had no intention of resuming work in the areas under dispute.
Guliyev said he still hoped that the 10-year-old dispute over how to carve up the Caspian among its five bordering states could be resolved at a summit planned for this autumn.
Akhad Gazai, Iran's ambassador to Azerbaijan, said Tuesday Tehran had warned that no work should be carried out in the disputed zones until an agreement has been reached on the division of the Caspian.
"Azerbaijan is a fraternal Muslim nation," Gazai told a press conference in Baku. "There can be temporary misunderstandings between such countries, but that misunderstanding should not affect relations."
Azeri President Heydar Aliyev is scheduled to make an official visit to Tehran in August.
Gazai would not comment on whether the visit would go ahead in the light of Monday's incident, but Guliyev said he saw no reason to cancel it.
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