According to foreign media, United States President Donald Trump has told Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi that he expects her country to "step up" to assist with securing the Strait of Hormuz amid the US- and Israeli-led war against Iran.
But at a news conference in the Oval Office on Thursday (March 19, local time), a reporter pressed Trump about why he did not tell US allies like Japan in advance about his administration's plans to attack Iran.
Trump responded with the Japanese sneak attack on the US naval base at Pearl Harbor during World War II.
"We wanted a surprise. Who knows better about surprise than Japan, OK? Why didn't you tell me about Pearl Harbor?" Trump asked Takaichi, who appeared uncomfortable.
"You believe in surprise, I think, much more so than us," Trump added.
Takaichi had reportedly said on Monday that there were no plans to dispatch naval vessels to escort boats in the Middle East.
Her office also said in a post on X that there was "no specific request from the United States to Japan for the dispatch of vessels."
Japan's prime minister on Tuesday said that the government was considering what could be done within the framework of the country's law. Japan's Self-Defense Forces are governed by its pacifist constitution, which renounces war and the threat or use of force for settling international disputes, according to foreign media.
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