The US State Department has welcomed Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s role in seeking to defuse US-Iran tensions.
“Whatever the Japanese prime minister is able to do, we of course are supportive of anyone,” State Department Spokesperson Morgan Ortagus said on Wednesday.
“Anything that the international community can do to deter the Iranian regime from further escalation ... is a message that we hope our allies continue to send,” Ortagus told a press briefing.
She reiterated that Washington’s position on the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran has not changed. “Of course, we do not want Iran to get a nuclear weapon.”
“I’ve seen firsthand that our allies are in agreement with us that Iran’s destabilizing and malign activities must stop,” the spokeswoman said.
She also criticized Yemen’s Houthi militias for carrying out attacks on Saudi Arabia.
She described the latest Houthi attack on Saudi Arabia’s Abha International Airport as “incredibly troubling.”
“If you’re sending your family to a civilian airport and it can be targeted by a militia with very, very sophisticated weaponry that they’re obviously getting from the Iranians, it should trouble everyone,” she said.
“Can you imagine how the United States would respond to that, how Canada would respond if that was happening in Ottawa?” she asked.
