Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe held talks with Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Thursday as part of his two-day mission to help ease tensions between Tehran and Washington, APA reports citing Koydo News.
While the two countries have long enjoyed amicable ties, Abe is the first Japanese premier to meet with the Iranian supreme leader, who has ultimate authority over the country's policy direction.
Khamenei has taken a hard-line approach toward the United States, in contrast to Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, with whom Abe held talks on Wednesday. Rouhani is considered more moderate and reached a landmark nuclear deal with the United States and other world powers in 2015.
Among the leaders of countries with close ties to the United States, Abe is also the first to meet with Khamenei since the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump's abrupt pullout in 2018 from the nuclear deal.
Abe is in Tehran in an attempt to serve as a mediator between Iran and the United States, Japan's longtime security ally, with tensions having flared in recent weeks and worries growing about accidental military clashes in the Middle East, a vital area for energy-poor Japan.
Abe's trip, which is also the first by a Japanese leader to Iran since the country's Islamic Revolution in 1979, is seen as an attempt to boost Tokyo's diplomatic profile abroad.
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