Local Editor
Japan may send vessels to patrol off Yemen rather than joining a US-led coalition to protect shipping in the Strait of Hormuz amid heightened tensions with Iran, government sources said on Thursday (Aug 8).
The administration of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is reluctant to send the Maritime Self-Defence Force to the strait, a key sea lane through which around a fifth of the world's oil passes, out of concern that doing so could hurt Tokyo's friendly ties with Teheran.
But it is under mounting pressure from Washington to participate in the US effort, dubbed Operation Sentinel, with Pentagon chief Mark Esper earlier this week urging Japan to "strongly consider" it.
As a compromise, Japan is considering sending MSDF destroyers and P-3C Orion surveillance planes to the Bab el-Mandeb Strait between Yemen and the Horn of Africa, the sources said.
"We can't just do nothing," a senior Abe administration official said.
The mission would likely be taken up by forces already engaged in anti-piracy operations off Somalia.
The Japanese vessels would not be part of the US-led coalition, though the area of operations would overlap.
Source: News Agencies, Edited by Website Team
