Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharazi has called for a meeting of Muslim states following US moves towards recognising Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, the official news agency IRNA reported.Kharazi urged that the Al-Qods (Jerusalem) committee of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference meet to discuss the consequences of a new US law, in talks with his Moroccan counterpart Mohamed Benaissa, IRNA said Thursday.

The purpose of the Al-Qods committee, chaired by Morocco's King Mohammed VI, is to preserve the Islamic character of Jerusalem, whose Arab eastern sector was captured and annexed by Israel in 1967.

US President George W. Bush signed into law earlier this week the 2003 Foreign Relations Authorization Act, which contains the State Department's budget.

Congress insisted on retaining a clause calling for the relocation of the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and denying funding for any official US document unless it identifies the city as Israel's capital.

Bush said that as the arbiter of US foreign policy he would not implement the decision, but Arab and other Muslim states reacted with fury, saying he was going against UN resolutions on the status of the disputed holy city.

Deputy State Department spokesman Philip Reeker said Wednesday US policy on Jerusalem was unchanged and Washington still believed its future should be settled between Israel and the Palestinians.

Along with most other countries, the United States maintains its embassy in Israel in Tel Aviv to reflect the contested nature of Arab east Jerusalem, whose annexation has never been recognized by the United Nations.

Israel has declared Jerusalem, whose eastern sector in particular contains sites sacred to Muslims, Jews and Christians, its eternal undivided capital.

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, whose people claim east Jerusalem as the capital of their future state, denounced the law as a "disaster".

Russia, whose support Washington seeks for an invasion of Iraq, said all parties should "avoid unilateral actions that anticipate the results of negotiations on a final status."

Washington's top Arab allies, Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia, all voiced anger over the law, as did Syria and Iran, the 22-member Arab League, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and the 57-member OIC.

Kharazi said Wednesday, "This is a blatant insult to Muslim countries and shows the US is profiteering from the current situation".

Iran is an archfoe of the United States and of Israel, whose existence it does not recognise.

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Al-Aqsa Mosque

- Islam's third holiest site
- Was the direction for prayer before Mecca became the focal point of worship
- Building finished in 705 AD on the site of an earlier wooden mosque
- Known as a centre for worship and learning