WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump may use a White House meeting with Japan’s prime minister on Thursday to press for help in the war on Iran, placing Sanae Takaichi in an awkward position as Tokyo weighs how much support it can provide.
Trump has lashed out at allies for their lukewarm support for the US-Israeli military campaign and said the US doesn’t need any help. However, he is still pushing for more ships to clear mines and escort tankers through the Strait of Hormuz, largely closed by Iran in the conflict.
Trump hosts Takaichi for a long-scheduled White House visit aimed at burnishing the decades-old security and economic partnership between Washington and its closest East Asian ally.
Takaichi has sought to move Japan away from a pacifist constitution imposed by Washington after World War Two, but with the Iran war unpopular at home, she has so far not offered to assist in clearing the Strait of Hormuz.
US allies such as Germany, Italy and Spain have ruled out participating in any Gulf mission, angering Trump.
