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In their own defense, officials in Tokyo insisted that Japan, like the U.S., was a victim of Iranian blackmail. Unless the oil was bought, they claimed, Tehran threatened to suspend negotiations on Japan's 1980 allotment of Iranian oil, which this year amounted to 11 % of Japanese consumption. Moreover, the officials said, buying the oil helped make up for the cut in oil shipments by U.S. firms to Japan, from 1.4 million bbl. a day in 1978 to about 1 million bbl. because of reduced production by OPEC members and the shippers' decision to fill domestic American orders first. Still, some skeptical U.S. officials noted that Japan's storage tanks are brimming with a 100-day supply of oil-Tokyo's insurance policy against an unforeseen crisis in the Middle East. At week's end Prime Minister Masayoshi Ohira told subordinates that he was "gravely concerned" about upsetting relations with the U.S., which imports $26 billion worth of Japanese goods a year. He ordered the trading companies not to import more oil from Iran in the future than they did before the crisis.
While Vance was collecting promises of support in Europe, the Administration suffered a minor setback at home. In Washington, U.S. District Court Judge Joyce Hens Green directed the Administration to stop its crackdown on Iranians with student visas who are illegally in the U.S. She ruled that the Government had subjected the Iranians to a "discriminatory, 30-day roundup that violates the fundamental principles of American fairness." Since Nov. 13, immigration officials had interviewed 50,437 Iranians, found that 6,042 were in the U.S. illegally and expelled 56 of them. Government lawyers won a temporary stay of the ruling while it is appealed.
Meanwhile, the Shah's sudden departure from Lackland Air Force Base near San Antonio raised hopes that the hostage situation might now be resolved. Earlier in the week, that seemed a remote possibility. The Shah's health had taken a turn for the worse. Aides reported to Washington that he had been sick to his stomach and was running a fever. At Carter's request, Drs. Benjamin Kean and Hibbard Williams, who had treated the Shah in New York City, flew to Lackland to examine him. They prescribed undisclosed therapy for his enlarged spleen but concluded there was no medical problem that would prevent his traveling to Panama.