Iranian lawmakers censure US for recognizing Quds as Israeli ‘capital’

Iranian lawmakers have issued a statement to condemn US President Donald Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem al-Quds as Israel’s “capital,” saying the move is the “last nail in the coffin” of the so-called Middle East peace process.

“Jerusalem al-Quds is the first qibla (the direction toward which Muslims hold prayers) and sacred mother of the entire Muslim Ummah,” read the statement signed by 235 MPs on Tuesday.

It came days after Trump declared that Washington was recognizing Jerusalem al-Quds as the “capital” of Israel and instructed his administration to begin the process of moving the American embassy from Tel Aviv to the occupied ancient city.

The Iranian lawmakers described the move by the “businessman turned US president” as proof of the “lack of identity” and “fake nature” of the Zionist regime, which needs to turn to a so-called “big power” to designate Jerusalem al-Quds as the entity’s capital with force and regardless of Palestinian aspirations.

“The short-sided who celebrated the Middle East peace process in the 1990s … have today understood that the United States does not pay heed even to its own shaky agreements, and put the last nail in the coffin of the so-called peace process in the Middle East,” they said.

The MPs also warned that the US and the Zionist regime that the Islamic Ummah will not remain tight-lipped in the face of Trump’s “criminal” move.

They further called on all Muslim countries to cut their diplomatic ties with Tel Aviv and reduce their economic relations to the least possible level, reaffirming that the Iranian government and nation “is always a supporter of the sacred Islamic ideals, including the fight against the Zionist regime.”

Trump’s move upended decades of American diplomacy, causing an overwhelming global diplomatic backlash and sparking protests by Palestinians and their clashes with Israeli forces.

Jerusalem al-Quds remains at the core of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, with Palestinians hoping that the eastern part of the city would eventually serve as the capital of a future independent Palestinian state.