Five Caspian Sea states issued a declaration Tuesday promising not to allow their soil for an attack against any one of them. The statement was an apparent response to ongoing speculation of a U.S. attack on Iran. Speaking in Tehran, Russian President Vladimir Putin warned against a U.S. strike and defended Iran’s right to develop nuclear energy.

Russian President Vladimir Putin: “And Russia is the only nation which is helping in the development of Iran’s peaceful nuclear program. And in fact, as the president of Iran has already remarked, in the declaration we signed today, and all the Caspian Sea governments support this agreement, which is against the proliferation of nuclear weapons, but declares we all have the right to develop peaceful nuclear programs without these restrictions.”