Trump to Jewish leaders: No money for Palestinians if no peace deal

In the annual Rosh Hashanah phone call with Jewish leaders, US President Donald Trump says the United States will not reverse aid cuts to the Palestinian Authority unless its leaders agree to a peace deal with Israel.

“What I will tell you is I stopped massive amounts of money that we were paying to the Palestinians and the Palestinian leaders. The United States was paying them tremendous amounts of money and I say, ‘You’ll get money but we’re not paying until you make a deal,'” Trump says, according to a recording of the call from Channel 10.

“If we don’t make a deal we’re not paying.”

Trump also repeats that he removed the thorny issue of Jerusalem from peace talks by recognizing it as Israel’s capital and says Israel will have to give up something in return, but doesn’t say what this will be.

On Iran, Trump says he believes the Iranians will soon ask for negotiations on a new nuclear deal in light of the growing economic pressure following his withdrawal from the accord meant to limit its nuclear program and reimpose sanctions.