Japan could consider Hormuz minesweeping if ceasefire reached, minister says

TOKYO, March 22 (Reuters) - Japan could consider deploying its military for minesweeping in the Strait of Hormuz, a ​vital artery for global oil supplies, if a ceasefire is reached ‌in the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi said on Sunday.

“If there were to be a complete ceasefire, hypothetically speaking, then things like minesweeping could come up,” Motegi ​said during a Fuji TV programme. “This is purely hypothetical, but if a ​ceasefire were established and naval mines were creating an obstacle, ⁠then I think that would be something to consider.”

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Japan’s military actions are ​limited under its postwar pacifist constitution, but 2015 security legislation allows Japan to ​use its Self-Defense Forces overseas if an attack, including on a close security partner, threatens Japan’s survival and no other means are available to address it.

Tokyo has no immediate plans to ​seek arrangements to allow passage through the Strait of Hormuz for stranded ​Japanese vessels, Motegi said, adding it was “extremely important” to create conditions that allow all ships ‌to ⁠navigate through the narrow waterway, the conduit for a fifth of the world’s oil shipments.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi told Japan’s Kyodo news agency on Friday that he had spoken to Motegi about potentially letting Japanese-related vessels pass through the ​strait.

Japan gets around ​90% of its ⁠oil shipments via the strait, which Tehran has largely closed during the war, now in its fourth week. A ​spike in global oil prices has prompted Japan and other ​countries to release ⁠oil from their reserves.

U.S. President Donald Trump met Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi on Thursday, urging her to “step up” as he presses allies - so far unsuccessfully - to send ⁠warships to ​help open the strait.

Takaichi told reporters after the ​Washington summit that she had briefed Trump on what support Japan could and could not provide ​in the strait under its laws.

(This story has been refiled to correct the hyperlinks in paragraphs 6-8, no change to text)

Reporting by Satoshi Sugiyama; Editing by William Mallard

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