Ceasefire Needed for SDF Dispatch to Hormuz: Takaichi

Tokyo, March 18 (Jiji Press)–Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said Wednesday that the establishment of a ceasefire is a prerequisite for the dispatch of Self-Defense Forces troops to the Strait of Hormuz, a key oil transportation waterway that has been effectively blocked by Iran. Japan “does not plan to send them at this point” to the strait, Takaichi said at a House of Councillors Budget Committee meeting, ahead of her meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington on Thursday. Tehran has imposed a de facto blockade of the strait amid rising tensions in the region spurred by a U.S.-Israeli attack. On the possibility of deploying the SDF troops for research and study under the Defense Ministry establishment law, Takaichi stated, “I would not say that there will be nothing we can contribute after a complete ceasefire agreement is reached.” The administration of the late Prime Minister Shinzo Abe decided to send a Maritime SDF destroyer and patrol aircraft for warning and surveillance in 2019 to secure sea lanes in the Middle East. “If the SDF troops are to be dispatched in the same way as they were in 2019, the condition for the dispatch would be a fully established ceasefire,” Takaichi said at the meeting. She said that an SDF deployment would be limited to “within the scope of the law,” adding, “We are considering what we can do, including from a legal perspective,” to ensure the safety of ship navigation in the strait. Nothing has been decided so far, she added. Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi stated that ensuring the safety of the SDF troops is a requirement for the dispatch, saying, “We can’t send them lightly.” Asked about Trump’s recent request for Japan and other countries to send warships to the Strait of Hormuz, Takaichi said, “I will convey (to Trump) what we can and cannot do under Japanese law.” Trump made the request in a social media post Saturday, but said in a post Tuesday that the United States does not need their help in its military operations against Iran. Takaichi said she plans to discuss with Trump at their upcoming meeting how Japan and the United States can cooperate in the planned development of rare earths off Minamitorishima, an island in Tokyo’s Ogasawara chain in the Pacific. The prime minister also said that she will seek to confirm that Japan and the United States will bolster their ties across a wide array of fields such as national security and economic security at the summit meeting. “We will take appropriate action based on national interests to achieve peace and stability in the Middle East,” she said. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]