Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who has tried to carve out a role mediating between Washington and Tehran, said Monday he was “deeply worried” by tensions in the Middle East. I’m deeply worried about the current situation,” Abe said in his first comments since the killing of Soleimani in Iraq. In June, as tensions rose over Trump’s decision to withdraw from a nuclear deal with Tehran, Abe visited Iran for talks with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Hassan Rouhani. It has opted not to join a US-led coalition patrolling waterways in the Middle East, proposed by Washington after the tanker attack during Abe’s Iran visit. But it has said it will send a military vessel and two patrol planes to the region for intelligence activities.

Source: The Guardian January 06, 2020 07:52 UTC