Japanese PM's special envoy to visit Iran

Japan to dispatch former Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura to Iran later this week as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's special envoy to hold talks with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, the Foreign Ministry said. During his two-day visit to Tehran from Saturday, Komura, also Vice President of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and Chairman of the Japan-Iran Parliamentarians Friendship League, is expected to exchange views with Rouhani on Japan-Iran bilateral relations and international affairs including the nuclear issue, according to the ministry. With Iran being one of the principal supporters of the Syrian government of President Bashar al-Assad, which is suspected of using chemical weapons on civilians, Komura also intends to tell Tehran that it should "play its role in stabilizing Syria," Kyodo News Agency reported.