Japan Urges Iran to Resolve Nuke Issue

New York, Sept. 23 (Jiji Press)--Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called on Iranian President Hassan Rouhani Tuesday to redouble his efforts to resolve the issue of Iran's nuclear development. During a meeting at the U.N. headquarters in New York, Abe told Rouhani that sorting out the issue through the ongoing negotiations between Iran and six major powers including the United States would give Teheran a good opportunity to regain international trust. Noting that the negotiations are going forward toward a deadline in November, Rouhani said he expects the talks' progress would foster mutual understanding. As for the heightened tensions in the Middle East due to Islamic State militants' offensive, the Japanese and Iranian leaders agreed to have their foreign ministers and other officials to hold meetings regularly. The leaders, however, did not directly discuss the United States' airstrikes in Syria, sources with access to the meeting said. Abe asked Rouhani to visit Japan to coincide with the third U.N. World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction to be held in Sendai in the northeastern Japan prefecture of Miyagi in March 2015. Abe also said he wants to visit Iran when the situation allows. END