Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe met US President Donald Trump at the White House on Friday (4/26/2019). (AFP / MANDEL NGAN)

Shinzo Abe wants to be a mediator between US and Teheran

Tokyo, Japan - The local Mainichi Shimbun newspaper reported on Sunday (03/03/2019), Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is planned to meet Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khameneni at the end of this month, and this meeting will be the first conversation between the Japanese Prime Minister and Iran's supreme leader.

The meeting was intended to discuss increasing tensions between Washington and Tehran, where Tokyo hopes to be a mediator. US President Donald Trump, who last week said that Washington remained open to talk with Tehran, appeared to have given the green light to Abe's plans during his visit to Japan some time ago.

However, before Trump flew to Japan, the US has announced that they will send around 1,500 additional troops to the Middle East region. In addition, the Pentagon has also dispatched a fleet of warships, bomber aircraft, and Patriot missile systems. Trump also issued a threat that he would "end" Iran if Tehran attacked US needs in the region.

However, earlier last week, Trump offered a guarantee that the US could coexist with the current Iranian government, saying that Washington was not aiming for a regime change in Iran. Trump stated that, they don't want to change the regime (in Iran) as they only care that Iran is not a nuclear power country and that Iran wants to talk and if they want to talk, US also wants to do it.

Unfortunately, Khamenei has called the negotiations with the Trump administration as "poisons" because the United States did not support anything, referring to the 2015 nuclear agreement that Trump left last year.

While Japan and Iran have maintained good relations, because poor-resourced Japan relies heavily on oil imports from the Middle East region, including Iran, although the amount is only 5.3 percent of Japan's total crude oil imports last year.

In addition to meeting Khamenei, Abe is also planned to meet Iranian President Hassan Rouhani during his trip to Iran scheduled for June 12-14.

Source: https://internasional.kompas.com/read/2019/06/03/21482651/berkunjung-ke-iran-pm-jepang-ingin-jadi-penengah-washington-dengan