This AFP picture made with a fisheye lens on January 10, 2017, shows the Dome of the Rock mosque at the Al-Aqsa mosque compound, in Jerusalem al-Quds.
US President Donald Trump denies a claim by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the US embassy would be moved to Jerusalem al-Quds within a year.
According to an exclusive report Wednesday, Trump made the comments in an interview with Reuters.
The Israeli premier who is visiting India said earlier in the day that, “My solid assessment is that it will go much faster than you think – within a year from now.”
Asked about the comment, Trump said: “By the end of the year? We’re talking about different scenarios – I mean obviously that would be on a temporary basis. We’re not really looking at that. That’s no.”
Last month, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said the embassy relocation his boss has promised was “probably no earlier than three years out, and that’s pretty ambitious.”
In December 2017, Trump said Washington was recognizing Jerusalem al-Quds as the “capital” of Israel and planning to relocate the American embassy from Tel Aviv to the holy city, claimed by Palestinians as their capital.
Later, the United Nations General Assembly voted overwhelmingly in favor of a resolution that calls on the US to withdraw its controversial recognition of Jerusalem al-Quds as Israeli “capital.”
