Tokyo, July 04: Tokyo has taken a neutral stance towards the recent post-election unrest in Iran, undermining the mainstream portrayal of the events in Tehran.
“We believe all countries have a unique culture and history, so they must be judged based on factual information,” Speaker of Japan’s House of Representatives Yohei Kono said.
Kono was addressing members of an Iranian delegation to Tokyo, led by the head of the Iranian Parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Alaeddin Boroujerdi.
“The Iranian parliamentary team’s visit to Japan is seen as a valuable opportunity to show Japanese officials a true image of the country,” Kono added.
The announcement of incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s victory in Iran’s June 12 presidential election led to opposition rallies in the country with defeated candidates Mir-Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi rejecting the official results as ‘fraudulent’ and demanding a re-run.
The election and its aftermath were keenly watched by Iran’s friends and foes alike, some of whom issued statements in response to the events.
In a recent statement, the Group of Eight countries condemned post-election violence in Iran and urged the government in Tehran to respect the fundamental human rights of its citizens.
In the European Union, all member states have summoned Iran’s ambassadors to their respective countries to protest against the recent arrests of a number of local staff at the British Embassy in Tehran.
Iran, however, accuses Western countries and their media outlets of fueling unrest in the country in the aftermath of the election.
The two sides also discussed during the meeting in Tokyo Iran’s nuclear standoff with the West.
Boroujerdi said that Tehran was determined to stay committed to its obligations under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
He also pointed out that his government was prepared to discuss the nuclear case with the P5+1 group (the 5 permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany), “so long as Iran’s nuclear rights were not disregarded”.
Tehran and Tokyo have long been strong trading partners. Iran presents a lucrative market for Japan’s automobile exports and electrical goods, while Japan is a leading importer of Iran’s petroleum and petrochemical products.
Iran is Japan’s third-largest oil supplier after Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
Japan continues to hold a stake in Iran’s largest on-shore oil field, Azadegan. In 2004, Japan’s Inpex Holdings Inc agreed to invest in a $2 billion project to develop the Azadegan oil field.
Two years later, however, Iran cut the Japanese firm’s share from 75 to 10 percent due to its delays in fulfilling its contract obligations under US pressure.
—–Agencies