Rouhani seeks support for Iran economy on Japan visit

TOKYO: Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has sought economic support from Tokyo as he wrapped up his two-day visit to Japan on Saturday.

Rouhani’s trip to Japan is the first by an Iranian head of state in two decades. This comes after deadly protests over fuel price hikes as the economy has been hit by US sanctions over Iran’s nuclear programme.

The Iranian leader held a closed meeting at a Tokyo hotel with Japanese business leaders. He criticised those sanctions and expressed hope for strengthening long-standing ties with Japan.

The sanctions were re-imposed last year after President Donald Trump pulled the United States out of the multinational Iran nuclear deal.

In an interview with Japanese broadcaster NHK, Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi lashed out at the sanctions as “unilateral, illegal”.

Suring a summit with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Friday, Rouhani called on Japan and other countries to help the Iranian economy.

“We welcome any plan that can increase trade, especially in the field of energy and increasing the exports and sales of oil,” he told the Japanese prime minister.

Ahead of the summit, Rouhani condemned Washington for “unilaterally and irrationally” withdrawing from the nuclear deal, saying: “I hope Japan and other countries will make efforts to maintain this deal.”

Japan is a key US ally that maintains close diplomatic and economic ties with Iran. Prime Minister Abe has tried to build bridges between the two rivals.

Abe travelled to Tehran in June to try to ease tensions between the United States and Iran in the Gulf. Japan was a major buyer of Iranian crude but stopped purchases to comply with US sanctions.