Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Saeed Khatibzadeh has weighed in on the joint Turkish-Azerbaijani naval special forces drills along the shoreline of the Caspian Sea, describing Turkey’s military presence in the area as “illegal,” reports PanArmenian.

“According to the Convention on the Legal Status of the Caspian Sea, no foreign state, except for the five coastal states, should have an army here,” Khatibzadeh was quoted as saying Minval.az on Monday, September 13.

“Turkey’s military presence in the Caspian Sea is illegal. We are investigating [the matter] through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.”

The convention grants jurisdiction over 24 km of territorial waters to each neighboring country, plus an additional 16 km of exclusive fishing rights on the surface, while the rest is international waters.