Japan scraps US meeting after defence demands
Japan has cancelled a regular high-level meeting with its key ally the US after the Trump administration demanded it spend more on defence.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth had been expected to meet Japan's Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya and Defence Minister Gen Nakatani in Washington on July 1 for annual security talks.
But according to the Financial Times, Tokyo scrapped the meeting after the US asked Japan to boost defence spending to 3.5 per cent of gross domestic product, higher than an earlier request of 3 per cent.
Japan's Nikkei newspaper reported on Saturday that President Donald Trump's government was demanding its Asian allies, including Japan, spend 5 per cent of GDP on defence.
An unnamed US official told Reuters that Japan had "postponed" the talks in a decision made several weeks ago. A non-government source familiar with the issue said he had also heard Japan had pulled out of the meeting but not the reason for it doing so.
The Financial Times said the higher spending demand was made in recent weeks by Elbridge Colby, the third-most senior Pentagon official, who has also recently upset another key US ally in the Indo-Pacific by launching a review of a project to provide Australia with nuclear-powered submarines.
In March, Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said other nations do not decide Japan's defence budget after Colby called for Tokyo to spend more to counter China, during his nomination hearing.
Japan and other US allies have been engaged in difficult trade talks with the United States over Trump's worldwide tariff offensive.
The paper said the decision to cancel the July 1 meeting was also related to Japan's July 20 upper house elections, expected to be a major test for Ishiba's minority coalition government.
Japan's move comes ahead of a meeting of the US-led NATO alliance in Europe next week, at which Trump is expected to press his demand that European allies boost their defence spending to 5 per cent of GDP.
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But after Trump pulled the US out of the deal during his first term, Iran began enriching uranium closer to weapons-grade levels and restricting access to its nuclear facilities. Iran has long maintained its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes. Israel said its warplanes hit dozens of military targets across Iran on Friday, including missile-manufacturing facilities, while an Iranian missile hit Israel's northern city of Haifa, wounding at least 31 people. The Israeli military believes it has destroyed most of Iran's ballistic missile launchers, contributing to the steady decline in Iranian attacks. But several of the three dozen missiles that Iran fired on Friday slipped through the country's aerial defences, sending shrapnel flying into a residential area in the southern city of Beersheba, where a hospital was hit on Thursday. 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At a meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Co-operation in Istanbul on Saturday, Araghchi told the AP "it would be very, very dangerous for everyone" if the US became actively engaged militarily in the war. No date is set for the next round of talks. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel's military operation in Iran would continue "for as long as it takes" to eliminate what he called the existential threat of Iran's nuclear program and arsenal of ballistic missiles. But Netanyahu's goal could be out of reach without US help. Iran's underground Fordo uranium enrichment facility is considered to be out of reach to all but America's "bunker-buster" bombs. Trump said he would put off deciding whether to join Israel's air campaign against Iran for up to two weeks. The war between Israel and Iran erupted on June 13, with Israeli air strikes targeting nuclear and military sites, top generals and nuclear scientists. At least 430 people have been killed and 3500 wounded in Iran, Iranian state-run Nour News reported on Saturday, citing the country's health ministry. Iran has retaliated by firing 450 missiles and 1000 drones at Israel, according to Israeli army estimates. Most have been shot down by Israel's air defences, but at least 24 people in Israel have been killed and hundreds wounded. Israel's defence minister said on Saturday it killed a commander in Iran's Revolutionary Guard who financed and armed Hamas in preparation for the October 7, 2023, attack on Israel that sparked the 20-month long war in Gaza. Israel said Saeed Izadi was commander of the Palestine Corps for the elite Iranian Quds Force, and he was killed in an apartment in the city of Qom. The Israeli military later said it killed a second commander of the Guards' overseas arm, Benham Shariyari, during a strike on his vehicle overnight in Tehran. 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Israel said its warplanes hit dozens of military targets across Iran on Friday, including missile-manufacturing facilities, while an Iranian missile hit Israel's northern city of Haifa, wounding at least 31 people. The Israeli military believes it has destroyed most of Iran's ballistic missile launchers, contributing to the steady decline in Iranian attacks. But several of the three dozen missiles that Iran fired on Friday slipped through the country's aerial defences, sending shrapnel flying into a residential area in the southern city of Beersheba, where a hospital was hit on Thursday. Reuters
