WASHINGTON Ñ The United States has warned Iran to end efforts to
achieve hegemony in the Caspian Sea region.
U.S. officials said the Bush administration has been concerned by
Iranian pressure on its neighbors to foil Washington's plans to divert oil
and natural gas resources to the West. The U.S. efforts focus on the
construction of a pipeline that would link Azerbaijan and Turkey.
"We will not stand idly by and watch them pressure their neighbors,"
Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage told the U.S.-Azerbaijan Chamber
of Commerce. "Everyone must understand this."
Iran is one of five countries that border the Caspian Sea. The others
are Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Russia and Turkmenistan. The five countries have
failed to resolve energy rights to the seabed or demarcation of surface
waters.
Iran has opposed the majority of Caspian Sea nations, which want to
divide the sea by a "modified median" principle. Iran insists that the sea
floor and water basin undergo equal division.
U.S. officials want to proceed with the pipeline that would link the
Azeri capital of Baku to the Turkish port of Ceyhan despite the dispute over
the Caspian.
Meanwhile, Iraq and Syria plan to resume discussions on construction
of a second oil pipeline link.
Envoys from the two countries will meet this week in Damascus. A
visiting Iraqi delegation led by Iraqi Oil Minister Amr Rashid will discuss
the issue with his Syrian counterpart, Ibrahim Haddad.
The two countries will discuss what Arab diplomatic sources termed are
plans to accelerate the construction of a second pipeline that would bring
Iraqi oil to Syria and foreign markets. The sources said Iraq intends to
build a pipeline large enough to pump 1.3 million barrels of oil a day to
Syria.
Iraq exports more than 200,000 barrels of oil a day to Syria through an
aging pipeline revived nearly two years ago. But the sources said the
pipeline cannot transport any more oil.
Syria has been pressed by Britain and the United States for
clarification of the construction of a second oil pipeline. The regime of
President Bashar Assad has assured the international community that the
pipeline will operate under decision by the United Nations.
