Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called on Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to cooperate in order to stabilize the situation in the Middle East amid heightened US-Iran tensions, the Kyodo news agency reported on Monday, citing a senior Japanese government official
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 13th January, 2020) Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called on Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to cooperate in order to stabilize the situation in the middle East amid heightened US-Iran tensions, the Kyodo news agency reported on Monday, citing a senior Japanese government official.
On Sunday, Abe visited Saudi Arabia and met with the crown prince as a part of his five-day tour to the countries of the Middle East. The meeting took place in the city of Al Ula in the country's northwest.
The agency reported that both sides agreed on the necessity of joint efforts to ease tensions in the region as a military conflict would affect the rest of the world as well and threaten global peace and stability.
According to the Japanese official, the prime minister also called on all parties concerned to respond to the situation in a restrained manner.
Earlier on Sunday, the minister also met with King Salman in the Saudi capital of Riyadh to exchanged views on the matter.
The past two weeks brought about a new escalation of tensions in the Middle East. On January 3, the United States conducted a strike that killed one of Iran's top military commanders, Qasem Soleimani. Iran responded by attacking two Iraqi bases housing US military personnel. US President Donald Trump has not announced a military response to the missile strikes but pledged to impose additional economic sanctions on the Islamic republic. On January 9, Abe vowed to continue diplomatic efforts to ease tensions between the two countries and praised the United States' "restrained response" to Iran's attacks.
