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Japan PM to meet Iran’s Khamenei to mediate with US

June 3, 2019 at 9:51 am

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif (L) and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe shake hands at Abe’s official residence in Tokyo on 16 May 2019. [EUGENE HOSHIKO/AFP/Getty Images]

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will visit Iran and meet Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei with the hope of mediating between Washington and Tehran, Japan’s Mainichi Shimbun newspaper reported yesterday.

The paper said the meeting between Abe and Khamenei will be the first of its kind between a Japanese prime minister and Iran’s supreme leader since the 1979 Islamic revolution.

Tensions between Iran and the United States have increased since the US withdrew from the 2015 nuclear agreement signed with Tehran and re-imposed sanctions previously lifted under the agreement.

Last month, Washington accused Iran’s Revolutionary Guards of attacking four oil tankers just outside the Strait of Hormuz. Charges Iran denies.

READ: US prepared to engage with Iran without pre-conditions -Pompeo