Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is set to start his two-day visit to Tehran on Wednesday amid rising military tensions in the Persian Gulf.
Abe's planned visit — the first visit to Iran by an incumbent Japanese prime minister in 41 years — came to light after he met U.S. President Donald Trump in Tokyo late last month. The timing has prompted some to speculate that Abe may be delivering a message from Trump to Tehran, to try to defuse the crisis over the nuclear deal.
But days before the trip, high-ranking Japanese diplomats in Tokyo started emphasizing a somewhat unexpected message likely to cool the developing media frenzy: Abe is not visiting Iran as a mediator nor messenger, and he does not have any quick remedy to end the nuclear crisis.