On August 12 2018 the five Caspian states- Russia, Iran, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan – signed the Convention on the Legal Status of the Caspian Sea. The surface of the Caspian is treated as a sea and the five states are granted jurisdiction over 15 nautical miles of water from their coasts and fishing rights over an additional ten miles. However, allocation of the seabed and its mineral deposits is left to the five countries to agree on a bilateral basis. Pipelines along the seabed may be constructed, with the approval of the countries whose seabed they cross, subject to environmental conditions. The Convention forbids deployment of military vessels by non-Caspian countries in the waters of the Caspian.