{"id":248493,"date":"2026-08-14T06:18:51","date_gmt":"2026-08-14T06:18:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/248493\/"},"modified":"2026-08-14T06:18:51","modified_gmt":"2026-08-14T06:18:51","slug":"mohsen-pakayin-tehran-has-no-legal-basis-to-claim-50-of-the-caspian-sea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/248493\/","title":{"rendered":"Mohsen Pakayin: Tehran has no legal basis to claim 50% of the Caspian Sea"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Former Iranian Ambassador to Azerbaijan Mohsen Pakayin has said there is no historical treaty or other legal document granting Iran a 50% share of the Caspian Sea,\u00a0<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/br.az\/politics\/118983\/eks-posol-irana-tegeran-ne-imeet-yuridicheskih-osnovaniy-pretendovat-na-50-kaspiyskogo-morya\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">BR<\/a>\u00a0reported.<\/p>\n<p>Pakayin said claims that Iran has a historical right to half of the Caspian Sea were never officially established, including during the Soviet period.<\/p>\n<p>The former diplomat argued that there is no basis in treaty law for Tehran to claim half of the sea.<\/p>\n<p>His comments come amid recurring debate over how the <a href=\"https:\/\/news.az\/news\/iran-s-gharibabadi-urges-caspian-states-to-condemn-israeli-ukrainian-actions\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Caspian Sea<\/a> should be divided and how the rights of its five littoral states should be defined.<\/p>\n<p>Pakayin urged Iran to ratify the Convention on the Legal Status of the Caspian Sea, signed in 2018 by Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia and Turkmenistan.<\/p>\n<p>He warned that continued delays in ratifying the convention could make it harder for Tehran to defend its interests in the Caspian region.<\/p>\n<p>Those interests include fishing, navigation, biological resources, environmental protection and other areas of cooperation among the five coastal states.<\/p>\n<p>The former ambassador\u2019s remarks are notable because they challenge the frequently cited argument that Iran historically controlled or was entitled to half of the Caspian Sea.<\/p>\n<p>Pakayin instead emphasized that questions surrounding the Caspian should be addressed through existing international agreements and legal frameworks.<\/p>\n<p>In his view, ratifying the 2018 convention would give Iran a clearer legal basis for protecting its interests while creating a more stable framework for cooperation with Azerbaijan and the other Caspian states.<\/p>\n<p>The comments could add a new dimension to the long-running debate over the legal status and division of the Caspian Sea, particularly as the five littoral countries continue to develop their economic, energy and security interests in the region.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/news.az\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">News.Az<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a class=\"by-user\" href=\"https:\/\/news.az\/journalists\/aysel-mammadzada\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">By Aysel Mammadzada<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former Iranian Ambassador to Azerbaijan Mohsen Pakayin has said there is no historical treaty or other legal document&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":248494,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[4],"tags":[288,11441,34,68973,69],"class_list":["post-248493","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tehran","tag-azerbaijan","tag-caspian-sea","tag-iran","tag-mohsen-pakayin","tag-tehran"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/117092415026998251","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248493","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=248493"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248493\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/248494"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=248493"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=248493"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=248493"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}