Iran's Rights in the Caspian Sea Message, August 6, 2026

In a state of severe structural weakness and a crisis of legitimacy, the Islamic Republic intends to advance and implement the "Convention on the Legal Status of the Caspian Sea" (the Aktau Convention). This effort by the regime — lacking the backing of the Iranian nation's will and lacking a clear and complete guarantee of the country's historic rights — is a deeply troubling act and a serious threat to Iran's national interests.

Under the treaties of 1921 and 1940 between Iran and the Soviet Union, the legal regime of the Caspian Sea was founded on the shared rights of the two parties and on the principle of mutual agreement and common interests.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the newly independent states, in the Almaty Declaration (December 1991), affirmed their adherence to the treaties of the former Soviet Union and guaranteed that the international obligations arising from its agreements and pacts would be honored by the successor states.

On this basis, any fundamental change in the legal status of this strategic body of water must take place with the joint agreement of all littoral states and with full respect for Iran's rights.

The Aktau Convention, however, provides for bilateral and multilateral agreements among littoral states over portions of the Caspian seabed and subsoil — portions that were previously part of the shared waters of Iran and the Soviet Union.

This is a dangerous precedent that bypasses the principle of consensus among all littoral states, effectively weakening Iran's historic standing and reducing the country's role in determining the fate of the Caspian Sea.

Since the Aktau Convention was signed in 2018, I have warned time and again that "national interests cannot be safeguarded from a position of weakness." I stressed then as well that the criminal cabal of the Islamic Republic sacrifices the interests of the Iranian nation and homeland for its own survival, and that in foreign policy it submits, from a position of weakness, to one concession after another.

My position on the current process remains unchanged: I regard the Islamic Republic's effort to ratify this convention as an act contrary to Iran's national interests.

No decision concerning Iran's resources, borders, and rights in this body of water will carry legitimacy without the genuine consent and participation of the Iranian nation. Iran's rights in the Caspian Sea are not subject to bargaining or forfeiture. Any move to erode these rights will be recorded in the historical memory of the Iranian nation, and those who make such decisions will be answerable and held to account before the Iranian people.

Payandeh Iran