Japan says ready to help revive JCPOA; Iran ‘ready for any talks’

Speaking to Iran’s President-Elect Massoud Pezeshkian on the phone on Monday evening, Kishida said, “The international community, including Japan, has great expectations from your future administration for effective interaction in this regard.”

Pezeshkian noted it was the US, under former president Donald Trump, that pulled out of the landmark nuclear accord known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), adding, “However, Iran has always been and is ready for any dialogue in this field, within the framework of its national interests and to uphold the rights of the Iranian nation.”

Both sides stressed that Iran and Japan need to expand ties on a platform of “95-year-old diplomatic and friendly ties, and a history of more than a thousand years of interactions between the two nations.”

The ongoing Israeli massacre in the Gaza Strip against the Palestinians also came up during the phone call, with Pezeshkian saying, “Unfortunately, the Zionist regime’s attacks on Gaza, as a clear example of crime and genocide, have been going on for more than 280 days and nights.”

He added, “We hope Japan, as a non-permanent member of the (United Nations) Security Council as well as the G7, will make more efforts to put pressure on the regime and its supporters in order to stop the aggression on Gaza.”

Kishida said, “Japan will seriously pursue its active diplomacy to establish a ceasefire, deliver aid supplies to the Palestinians in Gaza and prevent the spread of conflicts in the region, and I hope that we will have constructive and effective cooperation with Iran in this direction.”