To break the deadlock: Japanese mediator at negotiating table between Washington, Tehran

Nora Bandari

The ongoing protests in Iran, and the continued impact of US sanctions negatively on the Iranian economy, prompted the mullahs’ regime to return to the negotiating table with the United States and the international community, but this time from the Japanese portal, where Iranian diplomatic sources announced on December 8, 2019, that Washington had shown Its approval of Japan’s plan to receive the Iranian President, Hassan Rouhani, who plans to visit Tokyo on December 20 this month.

Break the deadlock

The Japanese news agency quoted diplomatic sources as saying that Washington sent a message to Tokyo requesting that it informs the results of the summit between Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and the Iranian President. Therefore, Japanese and Iranian officials are arranging for Rouhani’s visit.

On December 2, 2019, Abbas Araghchi, the Iranian Assistant Foreign Minister for Political Affairs, visited Tokyo as a special envoy of President Rouhani, where he met the Prime Minister of Japan and delivered a written message from the Iranian President.

Araghchi announced that the necessary preparations for a possible visit of Rouhani to Tokyo are under way at the present time, according to the Iranian news agency ISNA.

It is reported that he was preceded by the expected visit of the Iranian President, a visit by the Japanese Prime Minister, Trump’s ally, Iran in June 2019, to become the first Japanese Prime Minister to do so since 1978, in the hope that he could mediate the dialogue between Tehran and Washington.

Impasse

After Iran defied the countries of the world on November 7, 2019 and resumed uranium enrichment at the Fordow nuclear facility, after it froze it under the nuclear agreement, Washington began to impose more sanctions that negatively affected the Iranian economy, which prompted the Iranian government to take the decision to raise gasoline prices for three folds to resolve its economic crisis.

The people rejected and carried out protests in several Iranian cities on November 15, 2019, demanding the cancellation of the government’s decision, which was rejected, but the people were confronted with arrest and killing.

Therefore, the Iranian approach to Japan at this particular time is an attempt by Tehran to resolve its economic crisis, in order to reduce the American pressure on it, as this visit, if it takes place, will be the first for an Iranian president since October 2000.

Therefore, he indicated that the Washington Institute for Middle East Studies in his analysis on November 21, said that Iran has reached a dead end, and that it is on its way to negotiate with the United States, and that this is because of the protests that took place in Iran and led the Iranian government to use all available means to mitigate American sanctions.

Find a broker

For his part, Ahmad Qabal, a researcher specializing in Iranian affairs at the Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies, explained that Tehran is searching for the most influential mediator after the failure of European attempts to enable Iran to overcome the effects of US sanctions, while relying on the possibility of starting direct negotiations with America, similar to North Korea’s experience, given Trump’s policy and his sometimes conflicting positions.

Kabal said in a statement to the Reference that Japan made strong efforts in cooperation with France to maintain the nuclear agreement with Iran, and although it did not succeed in most of them, it represents the most effective diplomatic and international track “if we take into account Japan’s interests and strategic relations”.