Jerusalem
JerusalemiStock

The Iranian parliament on Wednesday approved a bill which requires the government to support Jerusalem the capital of “Palestine”, the semiofficial news agency Fars reported.

The bill was approved within the framework of a double-urgency plan, with 207 legislators voting in favor and with no opposition or abstentions, the report said.

Ali Larijani, the speaker of the Parliament of Iran, said that the bill’s timing was “important,” given U.S. President Donald Trump’s recent recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

“It comes in response to the recent U.S. decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital in hopes of dealing a blow to Muslims,” he said, according to the Turkish news agency Anadolu.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed last week that his country would open an embassy in eastern Jerusalem, after a coalition of Islamic states recognized portions of the Israeli capital city as the capital of a Palestinian state.

“We have already declared East Jerusalem as the capital of the Palestinian state but we haven’t been able to open our embassy there because Jerusalem is currently under occupation,” Erdogan said, adding, “God willing we will open our embassy there.”

Earlier this week, Malaysia’s Deputy Prime Minister announced that his country plans to follow in Turkey’s footsteps and open an embassy in eastern Jerusalem to recognize the city as the capital of “Palestine”.