Japan’s Takaichi seeks urgent summit with Iran as Trump’s Hormuz deadline looms

Fuel prices are displayed at a petrol station in Tokyo on March 18.

Photo: EPA The Japanese government is arranging summit talks with Iran, Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said on Monday, with tensions mounting in the Middle East as US President Donald Trump’s deadline for Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz approaches. “We are preparing dialogues at the leadership level at an appropriate time,” Takaichi told a parliamentary committee when asked by an opposition lawmaker about Japan’s diplomatic efforts regarding the US-Israeli war with Iran. “Japan will make every effort possible to restore peace,” said Takaichi, without mentioning the name of the Iranian leader she is considering holding talks with.

Japan has been bearing the brunt of the Middle East conflict, as the resource-poor nation relies on the region for over 90 per cent of its crude oil imports.

Most of them transit the Strait of Hormuz, a key artery for global energy shipments that Iran has effectively closed, fuelling oil supply concerns and sending prices higher.

Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi responds to questions from reporters regarding the release of oil stockpiles at the Prime Minister’s Official Residence in Tokyo on March 11.

Photo: Jiji Press/AFP Trump has extended his pause on threatened attacks on Iran’s energy infrastructure, pushing back the deadline for Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz from Monday to Tuesday.

In an interview on Sunday with The Wall Street Journal, the president was quoted as saying, “If they don’t come through, if they want to keep it closed, they’re going to lose every power plant and every other plant they have in the whole country.” He also posted on social media platform without providing an explanation: “Tuesday, 8:00 P.M.

Eastern Time!” Japan, a close US ally yet known for its traditionally maintained amicable ties with Iran, has condemned Tehran’s de facto blockade of the strait, as well as its attacks on other Middle Eastern states in response to the US-Israeli strikes.

Takaichi’s government has made no legal assessment of the Israeli-US military operations against Iran.

The approval rate for Takaichi’s cabinet has fallen 0.3 percentage point from the March survey to 63.8 per cent, with nearly half of the respondents indicating discontent with her handling of disruptions to the supply of oil, a Kyodo News poll showed on Sunday.

In the two-day telephone survey conducted from Saturday, 49.3 per cent say the prime minister’s response to the oil

原文链接: 南华早报