JAPAN PERSPECTIVE

Japan is on the front line of the energy shock from the Hormuz blockade. PM Takaichi called Iranian President Pezeshkian directly, pledging 'all diplomatic efforts' to guarantee safe vessel passage — an unusual bilateral move signaling Tokyo's economic urgency. The US has become the largest naphtha exporter to South Korea since the war outbreak, reshaping Asian energy supply chains. At the NPT conference in New York, Japan leads a joint statement from 115 nations on nuclear weapons — a powerful signal in the middle of the Iran crisis.