Iranian President Hassan Rohani has strongly condemned what was announced by US President Donald Trump to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Tehran will not tolerate it!
Iran "will not tolerate a violation of Muslim holy places," he said in a speech in Tehran. "Muslims must remain united against this great" horror "that smells of conspiracy."
Even the Iranian supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had already expressed a negative opinion, seeing the American decision as a desperate gesture, the result of the "incompetence" of the United States.
"The Islamic world will certainly oppose this plot".
The warnings, including that of Pope Francis, have reached the address of Donald Trump who is preparing to take a historic decision recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
A recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel would constitute a "casus belli" for Palestinian leaders who claim East Jerusalem, occupied and then annexed by Israel, as the capital of the state to which they aspire.
The international community has never recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and considers East Jerusalem an occupied territory. Israel proclaims the whole of Jerusalem, West and East, its capital "eternal and indivisible".
The UN reiterated, however, that the status of the city must be negotiated between Israelis and Palestinians.