Japan calls on Iran to stop threatening passage through Strait of Hormuz

TOKYO — Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi, in phone talks with his Iranian counterpart Tuesday, called on Iran to stop all actions that threaten safe passage through the strategic Strait of Hormuz, the Japanese Foreign Ministry said.

The conversation between Motegi and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi was the second since the United States and Israel launched airstrikes on Iran in late February and came just days before Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is due to visit Washington for a summit meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump.

Expressing concern that a number of Japanese-linked vessels have been kept within the Persian Gulf as the war has engulfed neighboring countries, Motegi called for Tehran to take appropriate measures to ensure safety for all ships that transit the crucial passageway for oil and gas, the ministry said.

Since the war began, Iran has largely blocked the narrow strait, upending global energy markets. Japan relies on the Middle East for over 90 percent of its crude oil imports, most of which pass through the chokepoint at the mouth of the Persian Gulf.

The ministry said Araghchi explained Iran's positions, while Motegi, for his part, called for a cessation of attacks on civilian facilities and infrastructure in the Middle East and requested that two Japanese nationals currently held in Iran be released.

The two agreed to continue communicating with each other to help bring the situation under control, it added.

Motegi and Araghchi previously spoke on March 9.

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