Iran weighs in on Trump’s embassy move to Jerusalem

By Rasha Khalaf

TEHRAN (AA) - Iran’s Foreign Ministry on Thursday denounced U.S. President Donald Trump’s recent decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of the “occupying Israeli regime”.

“Jerusalem, which is home to the Muslims’ first qibla [direction of prayer], is an integral part of Palestine,” the ministry said in a statement carried by Iran’s official IRNA news agency.

“As one of the three most sacred sites in Islam, the city enjoys a highly significant status among Muslims,” it added.

The ministry went on to accuse the Jewish state of forcibly expelling Palestinians from Jerusalem with a view to changing the city’s historical demography, illegally occupying Palestinian land, and destroying Jerusalem’s Islamic holy sites.

Iran, the statement went on, “has always said that the main cause of insecurity in the Middle East is the continued occupation of Palestinian land by the Israeli regime”.

Despite widespread international opposition, the U.S. president on Wednesday announced his decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

According to Trump, the U.S. State Department has been told to begin preparations for the relocation of the U.S. embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

The dramatic shift in Washington’s Jerusalem policy sparked demonstrations in the occupied Palestinian territories, Turkey, Egypt, Jordan, Tunisia, Algeria, Iraq and other Muslim countries.

Jerusalem remains at the heart of the Israel-Palestine conflict, with Palestinians hoping that East Jerusalem -- now occupied by Israel -- might eventually serve as the capital of a future Palestinian state.

During his electoral campaign last year, Trump repeatedly promised to relocate the embassy and acknowledge Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.