When the Iranian president, Hassan Rouhani, was visiting Japan, the Prime Minister of Japan, Shinzo Abe, managed to brief him on Japan's plan to dispatch its naval force to the Middle East. (Image via Tehran Times)

Rouhani's visit, Abe briefs sending naval force to the Middle East

Alfonsus Adi Putra
Politics & Economic
News Flash Japan
Dec 21, 2019
1209
During his state visit to Japan, the President of Iran, Hassan Rouhani, met with the Prime Minister of Japan, Shinzo Abe, on Friday. A government official revealed that Abe had briefed the Iranian president on the draft plan to dispatch its naval force to the Middle East. The dispatch means to protect the Japanese vessel passing in the Gulf.

Abe also delivered his concern about safety in the Gulf to the Iranian president. Rouhani became the first Iranian president to pay a state visit to Japan ever since 2000.

The Iranian president understood Abe’s intention to ensure the navigational safety of its vessels.

In the draft, expected to be granted by the cabinet next week, Japan is expected to dispatch its naval force, including a destroyer and P-3C patrol aircraft, to guide the Japanese vessel passing in the Gulf of Oman, the northern Arabian Sea, and the Gulf of Aden. However, the Strait of Hormuz is not included in the operation.

Besides, Japan will also collect information on the Gulf, the main source of Japan’s crude oil import.

Should emergency situations emerge, the Japanese naval force will receive special orders from Japan’s Minister of Defense allowing them to use weapons to protect the vessels under attack.

Besides the naval dispatch, the Japanese PM also asked Rouhani to keep his commitment to the JCPOA agreement in 2015 while Japan is looking for solutions to alleviate the tension in the Middle East. Rouhani, in exchange, asked Abe to cooperate with other countries to keep the agreement alive.

Ever since the withdrawal of the United States (U.S) from the JCPOA agreement in 2018 and sanctions on Iran, the tension between the U.S and Iran is heating. In May and June, several oil tankers had to deal with assaults. The U.S blamed it on Iran; Iran denied such an accusation.

Later in July, Iran seized a British-flagged tanker, Steno Impero, a retaliatory action after the marines of the United Kingdom (U.K) also seized Iranian-flagged tanker in the Strait of Gibraltar.

Despite the U.S invitation to Japan to join them in a coalition to guard the vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, Japan, maintaining its relations with Iran, did not join the coalition but launching its own.

Source: https://bit.ly/35LO6Aq

Politics , Bilateral , Security , Naval , Nuclear , Asia , Japan , Shinzo-Abe , Middle-East , Iran , Hassan-Rouhani , Commodity , Market , Oil