Iranian men burn Israeli and American flags during a demonstration against the execution of prominent Shiite Muslim cleric Nimr al-Nimr by Saudi authorities, on January 3, 2016, outside the Saudi embassy in Tehran. Image by ATTA KENARE/AFP/Getty Images

BEIRUT (Reuters) – Iran “seriously condemns” the U.S. decision to move its embassy to Jerusalem and its recognition of the city as Israel’s capital, read a statement on Wednesday from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs carried by state media.

The move violates international resolutions, the statement said.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said earlier that the United States was trying to destabilize the region and start a war to protect Israel’s security.

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The U.S. action will “incite Muslims and inflame a new intifada and encourage extremism and violent behavior for which the responsibility will lie with (the United States) and the Zionist regime (Israel),” the foreign ministry statement said.

The statement also called on the international community to pressure the United States not to go through with the embassy move or the recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran has reiterated that the most important reason for the falling apart of stability and security in the Middle East is the continued occupation and the biased and unequivocal support of the American government for the Zionist regime,” the statement said.

“And the deprivation of the oppressed Palestinian people from their primary rights in forming an independent Palestinian government with the noble Quds as its capital,” it said, using the Arabic name for Jerusalem.

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