Japanese PM Abe Shinzo considering visit to Iran in mid-June

Japanese Prime Minister Abe Shinzo is considering visiting Iran in June for talks with its leadership in a bid to help ease escalating tensions between Washington and Tehran, government sources said Friday.

The United States withdrew last year from an international nuclear deal with Iran, and is ratcheting up sanctions on the Middle East nation, aiming to strangle its economy by ending its international sales of crude oil.

The report on plans for the visit comes a week after Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif visited Japan and met Abe and Foreign Minister Taro Kono.

Abe is expected to make a final decision after consulting with U.S. President Donald Trump, who is scheduled to arrive in Japan on Saturday as a state guest.

If realized, Abe will be the first sitting Japanese prime minister in about four decades to visit Iran. Prime Minister Takeo Fukuda visited the Middle Eastern country in 1978.

As Japan has traditionally maintained amicable ties with Iran, Abe hopes to encourage Tehran to keep its commitments under a 2015 international nuclear deal, according to the sources.

Iran said in early May it plans to hold more enriched uranium than allowed under the nuclear deal initially sealed with the United States, France, the United Kingdom, Germany, Russia and China. Tehran has set a 60-day deadline to negotiate new terms.

The announcement came as the Trump administration has been hardening its stance on Iran, pulling out of the nuclear deal and reinstating crippling sanctions. Washington has sent an aircraft carrier strike group to the Persian Gulf, ratcheting up tensions.

Tokyo, a longtime U.S. security ally, has been put in a difficult position.

The United States ended its sanctions waivers granted to Japan and other buyers of Iranian oil. Iran has traditionally been one of the major oil exporters to resource-poor Japan.