SDF Dispatch to Strait of Hormuz Not Planned at Present: Takaichi

Tokyo, March 18 (Jiji Press)–Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said Wednesday that the country “does not plan to send at this point” Self-Defense Forces troops to the Strait of Hormuz, a key oil transportation waterway that has been effectively blocked by Iran. “We will consider necessary measures within the law,” she said at a House of Councillors Budget Committee meeting, ahead of her meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington on Thursday. “We are considering what we can do, including from a legal perspective,” to ensure the safety of ship navigation in the strait, she said. 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 do 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. On the possibility of dispatching a destroyer and patrol aircraft 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 (in the conflict).” 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. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]