The five Caspian Sea littoral states adopted a declaration at their second summit on Tuesday in Tehran, pledging to deny access to third countries who intend to use force against any Caspian state.

This past weekend U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert Gates visited Russia in an attempt to diminish tensions between Washington and Moscow with regard to missile defense and arms control. During this visit, Putin warned the U.S. to drop their plans to install a missile defense …

Russian President Vladimir Putin here on Tuesday reiterated Moscow’s assistance to Iran’s peaceful nuclear programs.

Iranian intelligence and security forces on Tuesday arrested three terrorists in charge of several blasts in the city of Ahwaz in Iran’s southwestern province of Khuzestan.

Turkmenistan’s President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow viewed the final statement of the second Caspian Sea summit in Tehran as a proper step towards resolving the issues remaining among the littoral states.

Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev said the second Caspian Sea summit in Tehran proved that the littoral states would succeed in finalizing a legal regime for the sea.

Kazakhstan’s President Nursultan Nazarbayev stressed here on Tuesday that the five littoral states have now got rid of a long-standing stalemate in specifying the legal regime of the Caspian Sea.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said that the second summit of the heads of Caspian Sea littoral states in Tehran has achieved all premeditated goals, adding that littoral states have agreed to form a Caspian Sea economic cooperation organization.

Turkmenistan’s President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow stressed that the Caspian Sea littoral states need to show more flexibility to resolve their problems and reach an agreement about Caspian-related issues.

Due to the intelligent leadership of Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei and unity and solidarity of the people, Iran is now recognized as the most secure country in the region, a senior interior ministry official said here on Tuesday.