Iran: "Solution to Caspian dispute close"

Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Said Abbas Araqchi said he hoped the issue would be "fully resolved" at a meeting of the five littoral nations' leaders in Tehran, Iran Daily reported.

The summit date will be announced "in the nearest future", Irakchi told reporters in the Kazakh commercial capital Almaty, AP reported.

He said that the five nations, which also include Russia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan, have already solved "many issues" regarding how the sea should be divided among them.

"But some issues require further discussion," he said.

The Caspian is believed to contain the world's third-largest energy reserves, but its legal status has been in limbo since the 1991 Soviet collapse. Iran insists that each coastal nation receive 20% of the sea.

/www.iranmania.com/