Trump denies US embassy to be moved to Jerusalem within a year

WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump denied on Wednesday that the planned relocation of the US embassy in Israel to Jerusalem would take place within a year, after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he expected the controversial move to happen by then.

Reversing decades of US policy, Trump in early December recognized Jerusalem as Israel's capital and set in motion the process of moving the embassy from Tel Aviv, upsetting the Arab world and Western allies alike.

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said last month the embassy move was probably no earlier than three years out, and that's a pretty ambitious timeframe that administration officials have attributed to the logistics of finding and securing a site as well as arranging housing for diplomats.

Netanyahu, according to Israeli reporters traveling with him on a trip to India, said on Wednesday: "My solid assessment is that it will go much faster than you think - within a year from now."

Asked about Netanyahu's comment, Trump told Reuters in an interview that was not the case. "By the end of the year? We are talking about different scenarios - I mean obviously that would be on a temporary basis. We are not really looking at that."

Trump did say however, that it would be a beautiful embassy.