Thursday 14 May 2026
12:00pm – 1:00pm (UK) / 8:00pm – 9:00pm (Japan)

The Iran War and Implications for Japan

Online webinar, accessible remotely via Zoom

Organised by the Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation

More than a month has passed since the United States and Israel launched wide-ranging strikes on Iran, with Iran responding by launching attacks on Israel and US military bases in the Gulf. Despite Trump’s repeated claims of making progress in ceasefire talks with Iran, the conflict continues to escalate across the Middle East, sending shockwaves across the world and impacting energy security, supply chains and defence arrangements globally. As geopolitical tensions rise, the future of the global economy and relations between countries may be redefined.

In this webinar, Professor Koichiro Tanaka will analyse the impact of the conflict in Iran, related energy issues and Japan’s strategic position in relation to the United States and Iran, as well as the potential role of the G7 in addressing these challenges.

About the contributors

Professor Koichiro Tanaka

Professor Koichiro Tanaka has held various positions as an expert on Middle East affairs at governmental institutions, international organizations and private think tanks. Among them are the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA), United Nations Special Mission to Afghanistan (UNSMA) and the Institute of Energy Economics Japan (IEEJ). Since September 2017, Tanaka has joined the faculty of Keio University’s Graduate School of Media and Governance where he teaches modern Middle East politics along with energy security. He holds a MA degree on Persian linguistics and contributes regularly to Japanese and international news programs as a commentator. Tanaka concurrently serves as an extraordinary advisor at the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry (METI).

Bill Hayton (moderator)

Bill Hayton was appointed as an associate fellow with the Asia-Pacific programme at Chatham House in 2015. He is a former BBC journalist, the author of four books on Asia, and the editor of the academic journal Asian Affairs. He was the BBC’s reporter in Vietnam in 2006-7 and was seconded to the public broadcaster in Myanmar in 2013-14. Bill is the author of Vietnam: rising dragon (Yale 2010, second edition 2020) and A Brief History of Vietnam (Tuttle, 2022). He has written two other books: The South China Sea: the struggle for power in Asia (Yale, 2014) and The Invention of China (Yale, 2020) and numerous articles on Asian issues. In 2019 he received his PhD from the University of Cambridge for work on the history and development of the South China Sea disputes. Bill worked for the BBC for 22 years until January 2021 and is a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society.