WASHINGTON (March 18, 2026) – Japan’s Prime Minister, Sanae Takaichi, will visit Washington D.C. this Thursday for a summit. During her visit, Takaichi will tell President Trump what Japan legally “can and cannot do” regarding their role in the Iran war. Earlier this week, Trump urged America's allies to join the war by sending ships to the Strait of Hormuz to protect shipping vessels and oil supplies. Australia, France, Japan and the UK are some of the countries that have no plans to send ships.
Sanae Takaichi said Japan does not plan to dispatch naval vessels to escort ships in the Middle East, and confirmed the U.S. has yet to make a formal request for assistance. The current restrictions on traffic in the strait could threaten Japan’s energy security, as the country relies heavily on oil imports from the Middle East, most of which is shipped via the Strait of Hormuz.
For more analysis on these developments could shape regional stability and U.S. strategy, please consider Gordon Gray, the Kuwait Professor of Gulf and Arabian Peninsula Affairs at the GW Elliott School of International Affairs. Gray worked for the U.S. government for 35 years. Gray’s public service included U.S. Ambassador to Tunisia from 2009-2012, Senior Advisory to the Ambassador in Iraq 2008-2009, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs from 2005- 2008. His other foreign assignments included Egypt (where he served as Deputy Chief of Mission from 2002 until 2005), Canada, Jordan, Pakistan, and Morocco, where he began his career as a Peace Corps volunteer. He twice received the Presidential Meritorious Service award.
In addition, please consider Professor Kuniko Ashizawa, who has a doctorate in international relations, has more than 15 years of teaching and research experience on Japan’s foreign policy, international relations of East Asia, and global governance, for which she has published a number of academic journal articles and book chapters, including in International Studies Review, Pacific Affairs, the Pacific Review, Journal of Peacebuilding and Development. She was a visiting fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, the East-West Center in Washington, and the Reischauer Center for East Asian Studies, SAIS. Dr. Ashizawa previously taught at Oxford Brookes University in the UK.
To schedule an interview, please contact Nadia Payne at nadia [dot] payne
gwu [dot] edu (nadia[dot]payne[at]gwu[dot]edu) or GW media at gwmediagwu [dot] edu (gwmedia[at]gwu[dot]edu).
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