A senior figure in Japan’s ruling party has called for caution over any decision to deploy the Japan Self-Defense Forces to the conflict-hit Middle East to escort vessels and ensure safe passage, according to Kyodo News.

Takayuki Kobayashi, policy chief of the Liberal Democratic Party, said during a television programme on March 15 that escort missions should not be ruled out from a legal standpoint but warned that such a deployment would represent an extremely high hurdle.

Under the Self-Defense Forces Act, the government can order Self-Defense Forces personnel to accompany ships linked to Japan as part of maritime security operations, allowing the use of weapons for defensive purposes.

Overseas operations by the Self-Defense Forces remain restricted under the Constitution of Japan, which renounces war. Tokyo expanded the role of the military abroad through security legislation that took effect in 2016, although dispatching troops to areas where they could become involved in fighting remains politically contentious.

Mitsunari Okamoto, policy chief of the opposition Centrist Reform Alliance, said on the same programme that prime minister Sanae Takaichi should avoid making a rash commitment if Donald Trump requests Self-Defense Forces involvement in the Middle East during their planned meeting in the US on March 19.

Trump said on social media on March 14 that he wanted Japan and other countries to send warships to the Strait of Hormuz to safeguard the crucial energy shipping route, which Iran has effectively blocked following attacks by the United States and Israel.

In an interview with NBC News, Trump said it remained unclear whether Iran had placed mines in the strait but indicated that the US intended to conduct sweeping operations there and expected participation from other countries reliant on the route for oil supplies.

The Self-Defense Forces may be dispatched overseas to support the United States and other partners under armed attack if a situation is deemed to threaten Japan’s survival, even if the country itself is not directly targeted. This is known as the exercise of the right to collective self-defence.

In circumstances judged to have a significant impact on Japan’s peace and security, the Self-Defense Forces can also provide logistical support to the US military and other countries.

The government has so far concluded that conditions have not been met in the current crisis for deployment under either of those scenarios.

During parliamentary deliberations over Japan’s security legislation in 2015, then prime minister Shinzo Abe cited the potential dispatch of the Self-Defense Forces for minesweeping operations in the event of a closure of the Strait of Hormuz, arguing that such a blockade could have a devastating impact on the public.