Japan ramps up diplomacy between US and Iran to help end war

Japan stepped up its diplomatic efforts when the Iran war started. It established an international peace mediation unit just weeks after the U.S. attacked Iran. Tokyo has voiced its serious concerns over the regional escalation and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz and any possible nuclear developments. Joining me now in the studio is Daisaku Higashi. He's the director and professor at the Sophia Institute of International Relations at the Sophia University. And that is in Tokyo. So thank you very much indeed for being with us. I know that you have extensive experience when it comes to mediation and peacekeeping efforts. The issues on both sides with the US and Iran remain the same and have done for months. So when it comes to the negotiations, how much flexibility do you think either side has when it comes to how they handle the talks? Yeah, it's, I think, a very good question because I don't see so much flexibility at this moment, yeah. The United States want to have a very one-shot approach to get opening straight of the homes simultaneously and also returning the IAEA inspector to Iran and downgrading highly enriched uranium of Iran. But Iran want to have some kind of phase or step-by-step approach so that they will remove the straight of the homes simultaneously, reverting some Iranian oil export. And as a second step, Iran want to have some kind of Iranian nuclear negotiation together with potential removal of all sanctions against Iran and also returning frozen assets of Iran to Iran. This different culture of the negotiations between the United States and Iran continue to be a key problem, I think. I mentioned that Japan had set up an international peace mediation just after the war started. What could Japan bring to the table to be able to try to move the negotiations along? I acknowledge that Qatar is playing a central role in terms of the negotiation or mediation between the United States and Iran. I hope that if we can have some coordination between Japan and Qatar, Japan keeps having a very good relationship with Iran traditionally, especially now. Foreign Minister Araguchi of Iran used to be the Iranian ambassador to Japan from 2009 to 2011, and he has a big respect for Japan. Even he published a book on Japan. So the Japanese foreign minister continued to have a phone conversation with Mr. Araguchi in the last six months for almost like 10 times. So Japan has a network. Japan also managed some good relations with the United States, including the Trump administration. So, if Japan can have some... or can make more input or commitment to convince both Iran and also the United States to make some concession to have a deal together with Qatar, it might have some positive impact. One area that Japan does have significant experience in is of course post-conflict Thank you very much. reconstruction and It is one thing to get a deal eventually, hopefully. It is another thing to see it implemented and then for the year, months and years after that. Again, what experience could Japan bring, could it offer to that process? Yeah, I studied post-conflict peacebuilding and mediation for many, many years, and Japan has some good experience on post-conflict peacebuilding in implementing a peace agreement like in Cambodia, East Timor, Mindanao, South Sudan, and Afghanistan. Qatar has been playing a central role in terms of the mediations to make a peace, right, to make a peace agreement. So, if Japan and Qatar can learn each other from each experience and they can collaborate on mediation that Japan can learn a lot from Qatar but also Qatar can learn a lot from Japan on the post-conflict peace building we might be able to expand the more peaceful area in the in the world so this is the reason why I keep engaging with the Qatari officials and the Qatari and academic experts here. There are external pressures on the negotiations as well, not just obviously between the US and Iran, but there are foreign governments as well who want to have an input into this. Does Japan feel that it is in a position to be able to use its influence on those external factors as well to try to move the situation forward? That's a very good question. As I mentioned to you, Japan has a good channel to have a communication with Iran, and also we can have a channel with communication with the United States, Japan might not have so much leverage to convince both sides to make a deal. To be honest, China has more leverage against Iran because China continues to import the oil from Iran. And China still has some manage the relationship with the Trump administration. So if China becomes more serious on convincing both sides to make some kind of concession and make a peace deal, it might have some positive impact. But China might have some calculation that You know, as long as this war is continued, the credibility of the United States will go down, so that the reputation of China will go up at the global stage. So it could be some complication, but I still hope that China also can make some positive contribution to ending this war, yeah. Really appreciate you taking the time to break that down for us. Daisaku Hikahashi is director and professor at the Sophia Institute of International Relations with Sophia University. in Tokyo, so thank you very much. Thank you for inviting me.