Saudi Arabia warns of Jerusalem embassy impact as Trump delays announcement

Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to Washington said on Monday that any announcement on Jerusalem's status before a final settlement of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict would harm the peace process and increase tension in the region.

"Any American announcement on the status of Jerusalem before a final settlement is reached will harm the peace process and increase tension in the region," Prince Khalid bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, the Saudi ambassador to the United States, said in a statement.

"The Kingdom's policy has been and continues to be supportive of the Palestinian people, and this has been transferred to the US administration," said Prince Khalid.

The White House said that President Donald Trump will not announce a decision on Monday but will be made "in coming days".

White House spokesman Hogan Gidley told reporters aboard Air Force One as Trump was returning from a trip to Utah that the President still has to make a decision on whether he will again delay moving the embassy.

Trump had been due to decide whether to sign a waiver that would hold off relocating the embassy from Tel Aviv for another six months, as every U.S. president has done since Congress passed a law on the issue in 1995.

(With Reuters)