Japan Arranging Summit Talks with Iran: PM Takaichi

Tokyo, April 6 (Jiji Press)--The Japanese government is working to arrange summit talks over the phone between Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and an Iranian leader, in an effort to help ease tensions in the Middle East at an early time, Takaichi said Monday.

"We are preparing to hold summit dialogue at an appropriate time," Takaichi told a meeting of the Budget Committee of the House of Councillors, the upper chamber of the Diet, Japan's parliament. She also said that the government is exploring every possible avenue to secure safe navigation in the Strait of Hormuz, a key oil transport waterway, which has been effectively blocked by Iran.

The talks would be the first between the leaders of Japan and Iran since the start of U.S.-Israeli attacks on the Middle East country in late February. In the possible phone talks, Tokyo may request the release of a Japanese national detained in Iran.

While Takaichi did not specify who she would talk to in the phone dialogue, a Japanese Foreign Ministry official said that her counterpart would be Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian.

At the Budget Committee meeting, the prime minister indicated that the government may call on the public to save energy and curb demand depending on the supply-demand situation, saying, "We will not rule out any possibilities and will respond flexibly."

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]