Following are the delineated points of a March 12, 2001, agreement between leaders of Russia and Iran at a meeting on Caspian Sea issues in Moscow:
1. The Caspian Sea must remain a sea of peace and friendship.
2. With respect to enhancing their bilateral cooperation in all spheres with respect to the Caspian Sea, the parties recognize the Treaty between the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic and Persia of 26 February 1921 and the Treaty on trade and navigation between the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and Iran of 25 March 1940 and its annexes as a legal framework underlying the current activities at the Caspian Sea. Until improvement of the legal regime of the Caspian Sea the parties shall not officially recognize any borders at this sea, and, with due regard to the above framework, shall promote cooperation with respect to the Caspian Sea in different areas by means of developing necessary legal mechanisms.
3. Any decisions and agreements concerning the legal status and the regime of use of the Caspian Sea shall have force only if accepted with the common consent of the five Caspian littoral states.
4. A comprehensive legal regime of the Caspian Sea is designed to provide favorable conditions for an efficient cooperation between the Caspian littoral states in developing the resources and preserving the environmental system of the Caspian Sea.
5. Taking into account the growing pollution of the Caspian Sea and the mounting threat to its environment and unique biological resources, the littoral states share a collective responsibility for the preservation of the Caspian environmental system.
6. The parties openly declare their opposition to any trans-Caspian oil and gas pipelines being laid on the seabed, which are environmentally dangerous in conditions of extremely active geodynamics.
7. The parties declare that the Caspian Sea should be used exclusively for peaceful purposes. Any presence of the armed forces of non-Caspian states at the Caspian Sea is inadmissible.
8. The Caspian Sea and its resources is a common asset of the five littoral states, who possess exclusive rights with respect to this unique water basin. Improvement of the legal regime of the Caspian Sea and of the forms and methods of its use is a task for the Caspian littoral states alone. Interference by any third states into this process is inadmissible.
9. The parties reaffirm the principle of responsibility of the Caspian littoral states for damage caused to the natural environment of the Caspian Sea and to each other by their activities in the use of the Caspian Sea and in developing its resources.