Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Tuesday that all countries except littoral nations should be out of the Caspian Sea, while calling for expansion of cooperation in the region.
"Agreed by all the Caspian nations, all issues related to the sea should be resolved only by littoral states," Ahmadinejad said in his speech during the Caspian Sea states summit in Tehran.
"The sea is an inland sea, and only the Caspian nations could have their forces in this region since it only belongs to them," he added.
Russian President Vladimir Putin also stressed at the opening of the Caspian Sea summit that the littoral nations should not let their territories be used by outside countries as a launch-pad for any military strike against one of them, apparently referring to the possible military attack against Iran by the United States.
He said the point would be included in the final statement after the meeting.
Azerbaijan, though an ally of Washington, has vowed it would never allow American troops to use its soil as a launch-pad to attack its neighboring countries.
The second summit of the five littoral states of the Caspian Sea officially started here Tuesday in a bid to find a proper legal regime for the sea, with the attendance of presidents from Iran, Russia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan.
Putin's visit was especially noticeable since there were rumors of a possible assassination plot against him during his visit in Tehran, which is the first by a Kremlin chief since Josef Stalin visited the country in 1943.
Russia's Interfax news agency had reported earlier citing sources from Kremlin's security services that a suicide bomber was planning to kill Putin when he visits Iran, but Putin shrugged off the rumors during his meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Monday.
Source: Xinhua
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