TEHRAN - Mohsen Rezaee, secretary of the Expediency Council, said on Saturday that U.S. President Donald Trump’s recognition of al-Quds (Jerusalem) as the capital of the Zionist regime will boost unity in the resistance front.

The U.S. president declared on Wednesday that he recognizes al-Quds as the capital of Israel and ordered the relocation of the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to al-Quds.

“This action of Trump is war mongering and declaration of war and is also considered clear adventurism and an act to undermine the region,” Rezaee, the former IRGC chief, told a press conference.

He described the U.S. move as “insult” to the Muslims and continuation of occupation.

He called on the Islamic countries to summon ambassadors of the U.S. and cut or reduce oil export.

The EU’s top diplomat on Thursday warned that the Israel-Palestine conflict could descend into “even darker times”. Federica Mogherini, the bloc’s foreign affairs chief, said the U.S. announcement “has a very worrying potential impact” for peace in the region. “It could send us backwards into even darker times than the ones we are already living in,” she said.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel also responded to the pronouncement on Wednesday evening, saying that the “German government does not support this position, because the status of Jerusalem is to be resolved in the framework of a two-state solution,” according to a tweet by her spokesman. 

Merkel’s words were echoed by French President Emmanuel Macron, who criticized the move as “a regrettable decision that France does not approve of and goes against international law and all the resolutions of the UN Security Council.” 

NA/PA