LONDON: The Palestinian Authority is considering replacing the Israeli shekel as the primary currency in circulation due to its increasing accumulation in the banks.

The Palestine Monetary Authority announced on Sunday that it has taken significant steps to address the growing accumulation of shekels in Palestinian banks after Israeli banks’ continuing refusal to accept the transfer of surplus shekels in exchange for foreign currencies necessary for commerce and business.

The PMA is considering alternative options, including a shift away from using the shekel as the primary currency in circulation, the Wafa news agency reported.

In early June, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich ended a waiver that allowed Israeli banks to engage with Palestinian banks without being scrutinized for money laundering and financing extremism.

Smotrich, who has been outspoken about weakening the Palestinian Authority and opposes the establishment of a Palestinian state, made this decision shortly after being sanctioned by the UK and four European countries for inciting violence in the occupied West Bank.

The PMA said it aims to create a more resilient and sustainable digital economy in Palestine and has consulted various economic sectors and the Union of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, and Agriculture before it makes a final decision. Alongside phasing out the Israeli shekel, the PMA studied digital payment strategies to avoid shekel accumulation in Palestinian banks, Wafa reported.

ISTANBUL: The United States and Israel crossed a major red line in attacking Iran’s nuclear facilities, Iran’s top diplomat warned Sunday, saying he was heading to Russia for talks with President Vladimir Putin.

“They crossed a very big red line by attacking (Iran’s) nuclear facilities,” Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on the sidelines of a meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Istanbul.

He was speaking just hours after President Donald Trump said US warplanes struck three Iranian nuclear sites, nine days into an Israeli bombing campaign targeting its nuclear facilities.

“The most dangerous one happened only last night,” Araghchi said, while acknowledging he did not know the full extent of the damage done in the strikes, including one at the underground uranium enrichment facility at Fordo.

“I still do not have exact information about the level of damages, but I don’t think it matters... Last night’s attack was a grave crime,” he said.

“Through this action, the United States has dealt a serious blow to international peace and security,” he said, vowing that Iran would defend itself “by all means necessary against... US military aggression.”

Araghchi said he would head to Moscow on Sunday and hold talks with Putin on Monday morning.

“I’m going to Moscow this afternoon” to hold “serious consultations with the Russian president tomorrow,” he said.

After the strikes, Trump said Iran “must now agree to end this war.”

But Araghchi said any demand to return to negotiations was “irrelevant.”

“The world must not forget that it was the United States which — in the midst of a process to forge a diplomatic outcome — betrayed diplomacy by supporting the genocidal Israeli regime’s launch of an illegal war of aggression on the Iranian nation,” he said.

“So we were in diplomacy, but we were attacked... They have proved that they are not men of diplomacy, and they only understand the language of threat and force.”

Turkiye, which was hosting the weekend OIC summit, warned that the strikes risked escalating the Iran-Israel conflict to a global level that could have “catastrophic” consequences.

“The ongoing developments could cause the regional conflict to escalate to a global level. We do not want this catastrophic scenario to come to life,” the foreign ministry said in a statement.