Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told President Barack Obama he’ll consider sending the country’s maritime forces to back up U.S. operations in the South China Sea. Japan and the U.S. have occasionally conducted joint exercises, but never in such close proximity to features claimed by China. Source: Bloomberg
The U.S. military said it sent two Navy ships through the Taiwan Strait on Wednesday, its latest transit through the sensitive waterway, angering China at a time of tense relations between the world’s two biggest economies. Source: Reuters
A senior German diplomat was in Tehran on Thursday for meetings with Iranian officials to try to preserve the 2015 Iran nuclear deal and cool rising tensions in the region, a German diplomatic source told Reuters. Source: Reuters
- Iran has recently quadrupled its uranium production, a spokesperson for the nation’s atomic energy agency says.
- The nation has stopped complying with key parts of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.
