Al-Monitor | Laura Rozen: When Iranian President Hassan Rouhani travels to Japan on Dec. 19-20, he will be looking to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to try to advance possible US-Iran mediation efforts, as French efforts appear to have stalled amid rising European concern about Iran’s steps away from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.

Iran “is asking Abe to pick up where [French President Emmanuel] Macron left off,” Ali Vaez, Iran director at the International Crisis Group, told Al-Monitor.

For Rouhani, the invitation to Japan may offer the chance to signal not just internationally but also to the domestic Iranian audience that there could be a reprieve from economic duress that has spurred recent widespread protests.

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