No Plans for Mine Removal in Hormuz by Japan SDF: Takaichi

Tokyo, March 12 (Jiji Press)–Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said Thursday that there are no plans to deploy the Self-Defense Forces to remove mines in the Strait of Hormuz. “We can’t envision that SDF assets will be deployed in the vicinity (of the strait) to remove mines,” Takaichi told a meeting of the Budget Committee of the House of Representatives, the lower chamber of Japan’s parliament. At the meeting, Nobuhiro Yoshida of the opposition Centrist Reform Alliance asked about the government’s view following U.S. media reports that Iran has begun laying mines in the strait. Takaichi said it is legally possible for the SDF to remove abandoned mines, but she added, “It’s practically very difficult to predict at what point they would become abandoned mines.” END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]