TOKYO - Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will hold talks with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani next Tuesday in New York, a Japanese government official said Wednesday, amid rising tensions in the Middle East after the attacks on Saudi Arabia’s oil facilities.
According to the official, Abe is expected to persuade Rouhani to engage in dialogue with the United States during the meeting, which will be held on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.
Abe will leave for the United States next Monday and is expected to meet U.S. President Donald Trump on Sept. 25.
Meanwhile, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said at a press conference on Wednesday that Japan will “take advantage of its security alliance with the United States and its traditional friendly ties with Iran” for the stabilization of the Middle East.
A senior Foreign Ministry official said Japan will seek “reconciliation through dialogue” in the meetings with the two presidents.
However, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Tuesday that his country will not negotiate with the United States “at any level.”
Japan seeks to take on a mediating role between the United States and Iran, with Abe traveling to Tehran in June as the first sitting Japanese prime minister to do so in over four decades. (Xinhua)