Ceasefire Needed for SDF Dispatch to Hormuz: Takaichi

Tokyo, March 18 (Jiji Press)--Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said Wednesday that the establishment of a ceasefire is a prerequisite for the dispatch of Self-Defense Forces troops to the Strait of Hormuz, a key oil transportation waterway that has been effectively blocked by Iran.

Japan "does not plan to send them at this point" to the strait, Takaichi said at a House of Councillors Budget Committee meeting, ahead of her meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington on Thursday.

Tehran has imposed a de facto blockade of the strait amid rising tensions in the region spurred by a U.S.-Israeli attack.

On the possibility of deploying the SDF troops for research and study under the Defense Ministry establishment law, Takaichi stated, "I would not say that there will be nothing we can contribute after a complete ceasefire agreement is reached."

The administration of the late Prime Minister Shinzo Abe decided to send a Maritime SDF destroyer and patrol aircraft for warning and surveillance in 2019 to secure sea lanes in the Middle East.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]