KYODO NEWS




 

Two Japanese nationals are being detained in Iran, and the Japanese government has requested their early release, Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi said Friday.

Amid the U.S.-Israeli military campaign against Iran, Motegi informed a Diet session that the government was able to communicate with the two individuals and confirmed that they are currently safe.

One is the Tehran bureau chief of public broadcaster NHK, who was detained on Jan. 20 by local authorities, according to a nonprofit organization. Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara told a press conference later Friday that the other has been under detention since June.

"The government calls strongly for their early release and will provide as much support as possible while staying in touch with them, their families and related parties," Motegi said.

The top diplomat added that he confirmed the safety of all Japanese nationals in Iran after the United States and Israel began attacking last Saturday.

"Of the approximately 200 Japanese nationals, about three-quarters are permanent residents, and many of them don't want to leave the country," he said.

Kihara, the top government spokesman, also said that Japan will dispatch a Self-Defense Forces airplane "as soon as arrangements are finalized" to prepare for an evacuation of its citizens stranded in the Middle East.

Upon the request of the Foreign Ministry, Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi has instructed the SDF to send a transport aircraft to the Maldives, an Indian Ocean islands nation, to stand by there, according to Kihara.

Kihara said that the evacuation of Japanese travelers in Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates by chartered private flights will start as early as Saturday, and that the SDF plane dispatchment is a "precautionary" measure in case such flights become unavailable or other "unpredictable developments."

Also on Friday, the Foreign Ministry said a Tokyo-bound charter flight will leave Oman at midnight Sunday local time to evacuate Japanese nationals in Oman and the United Arab Emirates.

Separately, transport minister Yasushi Kaneko said that debris believed to have fallen from the sky was found on a Japanese-affiliated ship anchored in the Gulf of Oman, causing minor damage such as cracked windows.

No one was injured, and there are no disruptions to the ship's operations.
The transport ministry said it is not possible to determine whether the debris is related to the U.S.-Israel war with Iran.