TEHRAN -- Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi here Saturday ruled out speculations that Iran had adopted a neutral stance toward a possible U.S. attack on Iraq and reiterated Tehran's opposition to a military action.

"Interpreting Iran's stance over the current Iraqi crisis as neutral is unreal and contradicts the country's clear and official position on this," he told IRNA when asked about some speculations that Tehran had taken up a neutral stance toward Iraq.

"Iran has announced its opposition to the American unilateral action and considers any military action against that country as totally void," Kharrazi added.

Many world countries agree with Iran on this realistic stance which is based on the interests of the international society, he added.

The United States is said to be on its toes to launch a military blitz against Iraq to unseat President Saddam Hussein.

Kharrazi stressed that it was up to the Iraqi people "who have suffered many hardships" to determine their own fate and that "no body else has the right to decide on their behalf".

The Iranian foreign minister, however, said that "World countries as well as Iraq's neighbors must encourage Baghdad to respect UN resolutions so that the ground and pretext to unleash an invasion against Iraq and create tensions and insecurity in the region is removed".

Meanwhile, Kharrazi said in the southern city of Bushehr on Friday that he is optimistic on the future of talks to settle the Caspian Sea's legal status.

"These negotiations have already opened new horizons," he said.

Five Caspian countries, including Iran, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Russia, have been holding talks to decide the Caspian Sea status for several years now, key issue sought to be resolved is how to divide the sea into sectors corresponding to the share of each littoral state, said IRNA.

Each of the coastal states are eager to launch large-scale operations on the sea's resources if they manage to sign division agreements among each other.

At the same time, the Iranian foreign minister noted that the Caspian Sea problem was so complicated that definition of its status called for full consensus on the part of all regional states.

Kharrazi urged the five Caspian countries to demonstrate reason, patience and openness, he expressed the hope that a new Caspian legal status will protect the rights of all Caspian nations, including Iran.