Honduras is mulling moving its embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, officials said Wednesday.
The issue was discussed Tuesday with Israel and the United States in a meeting with Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
"It was agreed to strengthen political relations and coordinate cooperation on development in Honduras," read a joint statement by Honduras, Israel and the US.
"They also agreed to pursue a plan of action, which includes meetings in their three respective capitals, to advance in the process of the decision to open embassies in both Tegucigalpa and Jerusalem."
The right-leaning Hernandez is the latest leader to consider following Trump’s decision last year to move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to the contested city of Jerusalem, which infuriated Palestinians and drew international condemnation.
Hernandez told reporters the trilateral talks represented “an important political alliance.”
The meeting took place in Brasilia on the sidelines of the presidential inauguration of new Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro.
Bolsonaro said during his presidential campaign that he would switch Brazil's embassy but without offering details.
Guatemala, a country seeking closer US ties, quickly joined Trump’s decision and moved its embassy to Jerusalem just two days after the US opened offices in May. Paraguay also followed, but a new government backtracked in September.
The Palestinians view east Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state, but Israel asserts that all of Jerusalem is its capital and is keen to see foreign embassies move there to bolster that claim.
Most countries, however, back Israeli-Palestinian negotiations to settle Jerusalem's status as part of a wider peace deal.
Brazil's meat producers are worried that an embassy move could threaten $1 billion in exports to Arab countries.
