On Thursday, U.S. President Donald Trump compared recent American strikes on Iran to Japan’s 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor during a meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi in Washington, Reuters reported.
At the White House, Trump highlighted the importance of surprise in military strategy and said Japan would understand, referring to the attack that brought the U.S. into World War II. He made the remarks after being asked why allies were not informed in advance of the strikes on Iran.
Takaichi, who sat next to Trump during the meeting, appeared visibly uncomfortable as he made the comparison. The reference invoked one of the most sensitive events in U.S.-Japan history, when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, killing more than 2,000 Americans. As a result, the U.S. declared war on Japan the following day and defeated it in August 1945 after the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Last week, several media outlets reported the death of Shigeaki Mori, a Hiroshima survivor who met with Barack Obama in 2016.
