With good ties with both Washington and Tehran, Japan emerges as key player on Iran

Politico/ here

"... Japan’s strong relations with both Washington and Iran have also led it to take on a key behind the scenes role in trying to negotiate a possible nuclear fuel swap deal between the West and Iran, regional expert sources said, although there were differing accounts of how promising such efforts have been.

At the same time, the Obama administration has been pushing for Japan to be represented in international diplomatic meetings on Iran, in part as a counterweight to Beijing. China, a permanent member of the UN Security Council and the so called P5+1 group on Iran -- the permanent five members of the UN Security Council plus Germany -- has expressed misgivings about any new international economic sanctions on Iran even before the Taiwan arms sale deal was announced in Washington last week.

Washington Japan hands said a recent effort by Japan to invite Iranian parliament speaker Ali Larijani to Tokyo to discuss a possible nuclear fuel swap deal had been less than promising, while Iran experts said Japan had briefed the Obama administration earlier this month on a possible uranium fuel swap plan that resulted from their consultations with the Iranians.

Under the alleged compromise fuel swap deal that Japanese diplomats quietly briefed U.S. officials on earlier this month, some 70% of Iran’s low enriched uranium stockpile would be moved to Japan, according to what one Washington source, speaking anonymously, was told by the Japanese. Japan would then take responsibility for the stockpile, and ensure the delivery to Iran of fuel rods for nuclear medical use. ....

Getting at least one of the leading Asian powers, China or Japan, on board the international sanctions push was described as a key goal of the Obama administration to help legitimate any further economic sanctions and to make them more effective, a Washington Asia expert said. But Japan's support for such measures is not yet a sure thing, and the Obama administration would see failure to get both China and Japan on board any further Iran sanctions push as a disaster, the Japan expert said...

Beyond its good ties with both Washington and Iran and diplomatic discretion, other factors elevate Japan’s role on the Iran issue. Japan is currently a year into a two-year term as one of the 10 non-permanent members of the UN Security Council, .......Japan also walked back from a military nuclear program, while having an extensive nuclear energy program. It was also of course the only nation ever attacked with nuclear weapons.

In addition, in November, a Japanese diplomat, Yukio Amano, succeeded Mohamed ElBaradei to become director general of the IAEA, in effect the top international nuclear negotiator in the world. Over the weekend in Davos, Amano made his first public comments on the Iran IAEA negotiations since assuming the job late last year. "Our proposal is on the table,” Amano told journalists at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland. “Dialogue is continuing.”