Abe to visit Middle East amid tensions

TOKYO: Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will visit Saudi Arabia, Oman and the United Arab Emirates next week as regional tensions spike after the US assassination of a top Iranian general.

Abe “will make the trip from the 12th to 15th,” a spokesman from the prime minister’s Liberal Democratic Party told AFP.

The prime minister announced the details of the visit during a meeting with party executives.

“I’m deeply concerned about the tensions in the Middle East,” he said, according to public broadcaster NHK.

“I hope to contribute to peace and stability in the region through diplomatic efforts to ease tensions.”

The US assassination of Iranian military commander Qasem Soleimani last week has raised fears of an all-out conflict, with President Donald Trump threatening “major retaliation” if Tehran makes good on a pledge to avenge the killing.

Abe has in recent months tried to carve out a role as mediator between Japan’s US ally and Iran, with which Tokyo has longstanding ties.

Tokyo and Tehran have maintained diplomatic relations for decades, even through the crisis with the West sparked by Iran’s 1979 Islamic revolution and subsequent frictions over its nuclear programme.

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. — AFP