Japan Urges Iran To Address Concerns on Nuclear Program, Drone Supply to Russia

Japan raised concerns on Monday about Iran’s nuclear program and its policy of supplying Russia with combat drones for use in the war with Ukraine.

In a meeting in Tokyo between the Japanese and Iranian foreign ministers, Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi called on his Iranian counterpart, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, to take action on the two issues, the Japanese Foreign Ministry reported.

Despite Iranian claims not to have sold drones to Russia or to have done so only before the 2022 invasion, reports have found that Russia has access to a steady supply of Iranian drones. Japan is particularly concerned about the Russian invasion because of fears that an emboldened China could carry out a similar conflict in Asia.

According to the Foreign Ministry statement, Hayashi also criticized Iran’s expanding nuclear program and expressed Japan’s support for the now-defunct nuclear deal. Under the 2015 deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, Iran agreed to limit its nuclear program in return for relief from sanctions. Since the US unilaterally withdrew from the deal in 2018, Iran has begun enriching uranium to much higher levels of purity and the country’s uranium stockpile has also increased dramatically.

The ministry said that Amir-Abdollahian expressed Iran’s intention to reenter a nuclear agreement and thanked Japan for its diplomatic efforts.