Tehran, Moscow Hold Talks on Oil Transfers

ATHENS — Iranian Prime Minister Hussein Mussavi has disclosed that Tehran and Moscow have held discussions on the transfer of Iranian oil through Soviet territory to avoid the Persian Gulf, Tehran radio reported.

Mussavi made the disclosure Sunday, a day after Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Larijani returned to Tehran from a visit to Moscow.

“Recently a dialogue has been going on between us and them (the Soviet Union) for the transfer of oil over Soviet territory” to the Black Sea, Mussavi said. He said the dialogue is going “positively.”

The Iranian premier’s remarks followed reports that Iran wants to use the Iran-Soviet natural gas pipeline, running from its southern oilfields to the Caspian Sea port of Baku, for the export of oil via Soviet territory.