
US President Donald Trump managed to combine a sensitive historical grievance with a failed military request during high-level talks with Tokyo. On 20 March 2026, a day after delivering a controversial joke about the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbour, he confirmed that Japan had refused to join American operations in the Strait of Hormuz.
The diplomatic exchange highlights ongoing tensions regarding international maritime security amid the conflict with Iran. Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi maintained her nation's strict pacifist stance, leaving Washington to manage the Middle Eastern waterway without Japanese escort vessels.