January 4, 2020

The U.S. military, on the order of U.S. President Trump, killed an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps major-general in an airstrike at Bagdad's international airport on January 3.

Japanese Communist Party Chair Shii Kazuo on the same day issued a statement regarding the killing of Iran's top general Qassim Soleimani as follows:

The JCP severely denounces the U.S. Trump administration for its preemptive attack conducted in complete disregard of the U.N. Charter, and expresses its deep concern about the possible intensification and escalation of tensions between the U.S. and Iran. We strongly demand that the Trump administration stop further military provocations and immediately return to the nuclear agreement with Iran.

The U.S. military provocation intensified tensions between the two countries. This has made it obvious that the dispatch of Japan's Self-Defense Forces units to the Middle East under such circumstances will be extremely reckless and dangerous. The JCP urges Japan's Abe government to retract the Cabinet decision on the SDF dispatch plan without delay. We reiterate that the need now is for the Japanese government to make diplomatic efforts to persuade President Trump to go back to the nuclear deal with Iran.