The head of Iranian diplomacy in Japan questioned on the war in Ukraine and the nuclear

For the first time since 2019, an Iranian foreign minister is visiting Japan in a bid to reduce the Islamic Republic's isolation on the international stage. Candid conversations, on arrival.

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian with his Japanese foreign counterpart Yoshimasa Hayashi on Monday, August 7, 2023 in Tokyo. AP - Eugene Hoshiko

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With our correspondent in Tokyo, Frédéric Charles

An ally of the United States, but maintaining cordial relations with Iran, Japan wants Tehran to give up supporting the Russian Federation in its war against Ukraine.

Hossein Amir Abdollahian met with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and his foreign affairs counterpart Yoshimasa Hayashi. And his hosts took advantage of his presence to ask his country to stop delivering weapons to Moscow.

Japan is one of the few countries in Asia to condemn the invasion of Ukraine. In detail, Tokyo accuses the Islamic Republic of providing drones and helping to build a factory to manufacture them.

The head of Iranian diplomacy denies: "Iran has never provided drones to any country for use in Ukraine," he said, according to the Japanese agency Jiji.

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in Tokyo on Monday, August 7, 2023. AP - Issei Kato

Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi insisted to his Iranian counterpart: "Take constructive steps to stop delivering weapons to Russia," he told Hossein Amir Abdollahian.

The latter replied: "We do not choose sides in any war.

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Japan also wants Iran to return to the path of the Iran nuclear deal, concluded in 2015, but frozen since the withdrawal of the United States under Donald Trump in 2018. Since then, Iran has intensified its nuclear program.

As the only country to have suffered nuclear fire on its population, Japan urges Tehran to revive the agreement and to cooperate with the IAEA, the International Atomic Energy Agency, to ensure the control of its activities in this area.

Meanwhile, Iran is seeking in Tokyo, elsewhere in Asia, to reduce its isolation.

See alsoHiroshima commemorations: Japan denounces the Russian nuclear threat

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  • Japan
  • Iran
  • Ukraine
  • Russia
  • Nuclear
  • Fumio Kishida
  • Diplomacy