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Saudi Arabia ‘rejects’ US embassy transfer to Jerusalem

Gulf kingdom says step ‘represents a significant prejudice against the rights of the Palestinian people’

by Staff Writer
Ivanka Trump, the daughter of the US President, was in Israel for the inauguration of the US Jerusalem embassy on Monday.
Ivanka Trump, the daughter of the US President, was in Israel for the inauguration of the US Jerusalem embassy on Monday.

The Saudi Arabian government on Tuesday said it opposed the US decision to relocate its Israel embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

“The kingdom rejects the American administration’s decision to transfer its embassy to Jerusalem,” the council of ministers said in a statement carried by the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA).

“This step represents a significant prejudice against the rights of the Palestinian people which have been guaranteed by international resolutions,” it said.

“The government of Saudi Arabia has already warned of the grave consequences of such an unjustified move,” SPA added.

The council of ministers reiterated Riyadh’s condemnation of Israeli gunfire that killed dozens of Palestinians along the Gaza Strip border on Monday.

But it also renewed Saudi support for the US decision to leave the Iran nuclear agreement, accusing Tehran of leveraging economic gains from sanctions relief to “continue its destabilising activities” in the Middle East.

While Europe is leading efforts to save the nuclear deal between Tehran and major powers, Iran’s regional rivals Israel and Saudi Arabia have both welcomed Washington’s withdrawal.

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