Arab News Japan

TOKYO: Japan hopes that Iran will help in reducing ension and stabilize the Middle East under President-elect Ibrahim Raisi, Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary KATO Katsunobu said on Monday.

It is the first time Japan announces its position on the election of Raisi. The new Iranian president has been criticized by some international organizations for his “violation of human rights.”

On June 19, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch reportedly said Raisi’s election as Iran’s new president “was a blow for human rights” and called for him to be “investigated over his role in what Washington and rights groups have called the extrajudicial executions of thousands of political prisoners in 1988.”

“Peace and stability in the region is very important to Japan,” Kato said noting that about 90 percent of Japan’s crude oil imports come from the Middle East. More than a year ago, Japanese companies stopped importing Iranian crude oil due to US sanctions.

Iran used to provide about five percent of Japan’s oil needs, compared to nearly eighty percent of Arab oil.