Iran says it had concluded a “historic” accord with Oman that demarcates the Islamic Republic’s maritime border with the fellow Persian Gulf littoral state.
Abbas Araqchi, Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister for Legal and International Affairs, announced the agreement on Tuesday.
The important step, he said, was taken during a trip by Omani Interior Minister Hamoud Bin Faisal al-Busaidi to Tehran last week, when he met with Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and the two exchanged the required documents.
Besides outlining Iran’s longest maritime border in the Sea of Oman, the agreement justly apportioned potential hydrocarbon resources between the two countries, Araqchi said.
Border issues always turn out to be contentious ones even among allies and would require intervention by an international party, he said, adding, however, that, “Iran and the royal government of Oman successfully completed complex and tough technical and legal negotiations on the determination of their maritime border in the light of their very close relations and based on the principles of good will and good neighborliness.”
He said the conclusion of the deal between Iran and Oman came at the same time that some regional and other countries attempt to tarnish the Islamic Republic’s international image and damage its relations with its neighbors.