TEHRAN — Alireza Moezi, the communications and information director of the president’s office, said on Saturday that President Hassan Rouhani and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe had a private meeting which lasted for an hour, describing it as an important event.

“Talks between Rouhani and Abe with the presence of the two countries’ teams was also long and detailed and almost every bilateral, regional and international issue was discussed in the meeting, ‘but what makes this meeting more important is the private talks between the two behind closed doors which lasted for more than an hour,” Moezi said in a tweet on Saturday, according to ISNA.

Heading a high-ranking delegation, President Rouhani paid a visit to Tokyo to hold talks with Prime Minister Abe and other senior officials of the country on issues of mutual interest.

When he landed in Tokyo, Rouhani became the first Iranian president to visit Japan since 2000.

Despite being a military ally of the U.S., Japan has traditionally maintained friendly relations with Iran as a major source of energy. In 2017, Iran supplied 5.2 percent of Japan’s crude oil imports.

Iran's oil exports, however, have been disrupted by unilateral American sanctions on the Islamic Republic. 

Japan also relies on the Middle East for nearly 90% of its oil needs, but tensions have risen to new highs amid U.S. deployment of new troops and military assets to the Persian Gulf. 

Tensions have escalated since President Donald Trump’s decision last year to withdraw from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), as the international nuclear agreement with Iran is officially called.  

“The nuclear deal is an extremely important agreement, and we strongly condemn the U.S. withdrawal, which was one-sided and irrational,” Rouhani said in the meeting with Abe on Friday.

“We hope that Japan and other countries in the world will make efforts toward maintaining the agreement,” the Iranian president added. 

MH/PA