Japan Sets Very High Bar for Deploying Warships to Guard Gulf Oil Route
The comments came shortly after US President Donald Trump urged other countries to assist in protecting the vital route.
Two weeks after coordinated US-Israeli strikes on Iran, tensions in the Gulf continue to push oil prices higher, with Tehran restricting passage through the Strait of Hormuz and targeting regional energy facilities.
While Trump previously pledged that the US Navy would "very soon" begin escorting tankers through the strait, he called on allies, including Japan, to provide reinforcements.
Japan, the world’s fourth-largest economy, imports 95 percent of its oil from the Middle East, with about 70 percent of that passing through the now effectively closed Strait of Hormuz.
Takayuki Kobayashi, policy chief of Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), said on NHK’s political debate program: "I regard the threshold as extremely high" for dispatching Japanese navy ships under existing laws.
"Legally speaking, we do not rule out the possibility, but given the current situation in which this conflict is ongoing, I believe this is something that must be considered with great caution," he added.
Deploying Japan’s Self-Defense Forces abroad remains politically sensitive in the country, given the pacifist 1947 constitution, which many voters support. Last week, Takaichi told parliament that "nothing has been decided" regarding the deployment of Japanese warships to escort tankers in the Middle East.
Takaichi is expected to travel to Washington this week for talks with Trump, covering issues such as Asia-Pacific security and the ongoing Iran conflict. Kobayashi emphasized the importance of clarifying Trump’s intentions, stating he hopes the leaders will explore how Tokyo and Washington "can work closely together to ensure that there would be no vacuum in the security framework of East Asia," particularly as US forces reportedly move to the Gulf from bases in Japan and South Korea.
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