TEHRAN, May 19: Azeri President Heydar Aliyev’s visit to Iran continued on Sunday despite little progress in the two countries’ bitter row over the sharing of the Caspian Sea’s vast energy resources.

After visiting the mausoleum of Ayatollah Khomeini, Aliyev met Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who warned foreign powers not to meddle in the contentious feud, in a thinly-veiled reference to Baku’s growing links with Washington.

“The Caspian and Caucasus issues can be solved with logical and adequate means, by regional powers, without any foreign interference,” Khamenei told Aliyev.

But on both issues, in which Baku and Iran — which has borders with both Azerbaijan and its arch foe Armenia — are deeply involved, Tehran has stressed its differences with Aliyev’s government, despite officially claiming to work for strengthening bilateral ties.

“Some international big powers are opposed to the resolving of regional disputes including those on the Caspian Sea,” Khamenei said.

“Iran and Azerbaijan should cooperate to bring this issue to a final settlement.”

The stakes are high over the rights to the Caspian Sea — thought to possess the world’s third-largest oil and gas reserves after the Gulf and Russia — prized by the nations along its border: Russia, Iran, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan.

The four littoral states failed last month to agree on a treaty replacing the one that collapsed with the fall of the Soviet Union a decade ago.

Tensions rose further this week when Iran slammed Russia and Kazakhstan for signing bilateral deals on the delineation of their borders in the Caspian without Iran’s approval.

Azerbaijan is committed to inking similar deals of its own with Russia and Kazakhstan later this year.

Splitting the sea along territorial lines would leave the Islamic republic with the smallest share and Tehran backs dividing it equally five ways.

Ashkhabad has one of longest Caspian shorelines but supports Tehran to some extent, since they both claim parts of the southern Caspian — including substantial oil and gas prospects — which Baku says belong to it.

Azerbaijan has already signed up Western oil majors to develop the area.—AFP