Israel has threatened on Monday to halt a water project with Jordan to transport water from the Red Sea to the Dead Sea, unless Jordan allows Israeli Embassy staff to return to Amman.

Israel demanded that Jordan grant permission for Ambassador Einat Schlein and her staff to return to their posts in the Jordanian capital.

“The position of the Foreign Ministry and the Prime Minister’s Office is that we cannot have a situation where on the one hand the Jordanians do not allow us to reopen the embassy and on the other hand we continue to advance projects that are important to them as if nothing had happened,” an Israeli official told Channel 10, according to the Times of Israel.

In response, Jordan has threatened to continue with the project on its own, while many Jordanian officials confirmed the possibility of Saudi Arabia becoming a partner in the project in place of Israel.

Relations between Jordan and Israel became strained after an Israeli security guard shot dead a Jordanian man at the Israeli embassy compound in Amman in July.

The embassy’s staff returned to Tel Aviv shortly after the incident.

Jordan insisted at the time that it would not reopen the embassy until Israel has taken legal action against the embassy guard.

Israel refused demands to investigate the case or to question the security guard, citing diplomatic immunity, according to Israeli Channel Two.