TEHRAN - The president of the Eurosevic Institute in London said that unilateral acts of states in the Caspian Sea will not be in the interest of peace in the region. Pirouz Mojtahedzadeh, a university professor and president of the Eurosevic Institute in London said on Friday that an agreement between Russia and Kazakhstan to divide the northern portion of the Caspian Sea could lead to instability and insecurity in the region. Mojtahedzadeh further said that a legal regime acceptable to all littoral states is possible only through activities conducted through diplomatic channels aimed at getting littoral states to achieve a consensus. He expressed concern over the war games that are now being conducted by Russia along its border with Kazakhstan in the Caspian Sea, saying it is an "intriguing" move which is encouraging other littoral states to consider displaying their military presence in the sea. Mojtahedzadeh pointed to the need on the part of all five littoral states to understand that political games in the region can have grave and undesired consequences on its security and interests. He further said that Russian bilateral or multilateral agreements do not signify an end to the search for a legal regime for the Caspian Sea that will be acceptable to all the littoral states. However, he said intelligent ideas in bilateral or multilateral agreements entered into by some littoral states may be considered by the others and incorporated in the final draft of a legal regime that will be adopted by all the states. According to another report, the U.S. State Department's Caspian envoy Steven Mann said in Azerbaijan on Thursday that Washington backed a series of bilateral deals on dividing the oil-rich Caspian Sea bed. Mann said a pact on Caspian borders signed earlier this week between Russia and Kazakhstan was "a positive step and we would welcome the signing of similar agreements between Russia and Azerbaijan." "Iran is against any unilateral act and foreign interference in determining the legal status of the Caspian Sea," Iranian President Mohammad Khatami was quoted as saying this week. However, Russia, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan, who are keen to determine the status of the sea so they can press on with profitable oil exploration projects, have gone ahead anyway and drafted a series of bilateral agreements. Mann, who met on Thursday with Azeri President Heidar Aliyev, also underlined U.S. backing for the planned Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline, which will export Caspian oil to the Turkish Mediterranean.