Japan PM says Khamenei Assured Him: No Intent to Make, Use Nukes

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Thursday quoted Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as saying Iran has no intention of making or using nuclear weapons. “Supreme Leader Khamenei made a comment that the country will not and should not make, hold or use nuclear weapons, and that it has no such intentions,” Abe told reporters in Tehran. Abe, the first sitting Japanese prime minister to visit Iran in over four decades, is in town to play mediator amid rising tensions between the United States and the Islamic Republic. He is in a unique position, given Tokyo’s close ties to both Tehran and Washington. Tensions have flared between the U.S. and Iran ever since the former withdrew from the 2015 multilateral nuclear deal and reimposed sanctions on the latter. They have been in a war of words ever since, coinciding with attacks on American allies in the Gulf alleged to have been orchestrated by the Islamic Republic, including attacks on oil tankers on two separate occasions.