Japan Prime Minister reaffirms alliance with Trump over Strait of Hormuz
發佈日期: 2026-03-20 20:20
TVB News
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi sought to reaffirm her alliance with U.S. President Donald Trump, after the president this week seemed to complain that Japan was among the nations that did not quickly join his call to help protect the Strait of Hormuz.
This as Israel launched a fresh wave of attacks on Iran today, a day after Trump told it not to repeat its strikes on Iranian natural gas infrastructure, which sharply escalated the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran.
During an Oval Office meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, a Japanese reporter asked the U.S. president why he did not alert allies in advance before striking Iran.
Trump invoked Pearl Harbour to defend the decision.
"Well, one thing you don't want to signal too much, you know, when we go in, we went in very hard and we didn't tell anybody about it because we wanted surprise. Who knows better about surprise that Japan okay? Why didn't you tell me about Pearl Harbour, okay, right? You know he's asking me. No, you believe in surprise I think much more so than us, and we had to surprise them, and we did."
This as a Trump's defense chief says the Pentagon is seeking 200-billion dollars in additional funds for the Iran war.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said: "Well as far as 200 billion dollars, I think that could move, obviously. It takes money to kill bad guys."
Konstanin Toropin, The Associated Press said: "The 200 billion dollar request would be on top of the Pentagon's already sizable budget, which is more that 800 billion dollars. And it comes at a time when the government is running a major deficit. The Congressional Budget Office found that the federal government's current spending deficit is about 1.9 trillion dollars."
Meanwhile, Iran's Mizan news agency reported Thursday the execution of three men detained in January's nationwide protests, the first such sentences known to have been carried out.
The three men allegedly stabbed two police officers to death in Qom, some 130 kilometres south of Tehran, during the protests.
Iran put down the demonstrations, reportedly killing thousands and detaining tens of thousands.
