Japanese Foreign Minister Koichiro Gemba arrived in the Saudi capital of Riyadh Saturday for talks on securing his country's oil needs in light of an Iranian threat to close shipping through the vital Strait of Hormuz, said sources in the Japanese embassy. Gemba was to meet yesterday with Saudi Deputy Foreign Minister Abdel Aziz Bin Abdullah. On Sunday, he will hold separate talks with Saudi Defence Minister Salman Bin Abdel Aziz and Oil Minister Ali Al-Neimi, added the agency. Gemba's talks will also cover Syria, Iraq and Yemen, reported SPA. He arrived in Riyadh late Friday as part of a regional tour that will also take him to Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Turkey. Saudi Ambassador to Japan Abdul Aziz Bin Abdul Sattar told SPA that Saudi oil accounted for more than 30 percent of Japan's oil imports. Last week, Iran threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz, through which some 35 percent of the world's seaborne oil passes, if the West imposed new sanctions over its disputed nuclear programme. Japan is seeking an exemption to US sanctions that President Obama signed into law on Saturday. The sanctions, if enforced, would penalize financial institutions for undertaking transactions with Iran's central bank, exposing the US operations of Japanese banks that deal with Iran. “We've been talking to Saudi Arabia and others on possible scenarios in the case of an import ban (from Iran),” Yasushi Kimura, president of JX Nippon said.
