Japan says bar high for sending warships to protect Gulf oil lane

Japan says bar high for sending warships to protect Gulf oil lane

“I regard the threshold as extremely high” for sending Japanese navy ships to the region under existing Japanese laws, Takayuki Kobayashi, the policy chief of Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party, said

March 15, 2026 23:58

TOKYO: A senior Japanese policy adviser said on Sunday the threshold is “extremely high” for Tokyo to send its warships to help protect a shipping lane for oil in the Middle East, hours after US President Donald Trump’s call for other countries to do so. Iran has choked off the vital Strait of Hormuz and attacked Gulf energy facilities.

“I regard the threshold as extremely high” for sending Japanese navy ships to the region under existing Japanese laws, Takayuki Kobayashi, the policy chief of Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party , said.