Tension between Iran and the United States has escalated recently, a year after Washington pulled out of a deal between Iran and global powers to curb Tehran\u2019s nuclear program in return for lifting sanctions.<\/p>\n
Abe\u2019s trip, scheduled from Wednesday to Friday, is the first by an incumbent Japanese premier to Iran in 41 years, although Tokyo and Tehran have friendly ties and mark the 90th anniversary of diplomatic relations this year.<\/p>\n
\u201cAmid rising tensions in the Middle East, we plan to encourage Iran, a regional power, to move toward easing tensions at the top leaders\u2019 meetings,\u201d said Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, who announced the trip on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Abe had spoken to US President Donald Trump by telephone to discuss Iran, Suga told a news conference.<\/p>\n
On a four-day visit to Japan last month, Trump welcomed Abe\u2019s help in dealing with Iran after public broadcaster NHK had said Japan\u2019s leader was considering a trip to Tehran.<\/p>\n
Abe is in a unique position, thanks to his close ties to Trump, cultivated since the US leader took office, and Tokyo\u2019s friendly relations with Iran, diplomatic experts said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAbe is trying to play the role of messenger and ease the tension,\u201d said Toshihiro Nakayama, a Japan Fellow at the Wilson Center in Washington. \u201cIt is a bold move. I think it comes from confidence with his personal relations with Trump.\u201d<\/p>\n
Japan is keen for stability in the Middle East because it imports the bulk of its oil from the region, although it stopped buying Iranian oil this year because of US\u00a0sanctions.<\/p>\n
Some experts played down prospects for the trip. \u201cThe object of the visit is not to mediate,\u201d said former Japanese diplomat Kunihiko Miyake. \u201cIt\u2019s basically bilateral issues and if there is any additional business to do, we will do it carefully.\u201d<\/p>\n
The most Abe can probably achieve is to persuade Iran and the United States to resume direct talks, the experts said, adding that both sides may be seeking a face-saving way out of the confrontation.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe situation in the region here is highly explosive and extremely serious,\u201d German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas told a news conference in Tehran on Monday alongside Iran\u2019s foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif.<\/p>\n
\u201cA dangerous escalation of existing tensions can also lead to a military escalation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Maas was the most senior Western official to visit Iran since the new war of words with Washington erupted last month.<\/p>\n
In his meeting with Maas, President Hassan Rouhani blamed the United States for the soaring tension and called on the European signatories to the deal to \u201cresist the economic war on Iran imposed by America\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Tension between Iran and the United States has escalated recently, a year after Washington pulled out of a deal between Iran and global powers to curb Tehran\u2019s nuclear program in return for lifting sanctions. Abe\u2019s trip, scheduled from Wednesday to Friday, is the first by an incumbent Japanese premier to Iran in 41 years, although …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":303,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2780],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12504","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pbbJo6-3fG","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ehsasnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12504","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ehsasnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ehsasnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ehsasnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ehsasnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12504"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ehsasnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12504\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ehsasnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ehsasnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12504"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ehsasnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12504"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ehsasnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12504"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}