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Iran rejects Morocco's accusation of meddling in Arab countries’ affairs 

October 5, 2022 at 12:31 pm

Morocco’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Nasser Bourita in Rabat, Morocco on August 25, 2022 [Jalal Morchidi/Anadolu Agency]

Iran’s Foreign Ministry yesterday dismissed claims made by Morocco that it is interfering in the internal affairs of Arab countries.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanani rejected the accusations made a day earlier by Morocco’s Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita as “vain and repetitive”.

“Instead of playing blame games and leveling baseless accusations against the Islamic Republic of Iran, Morocco had better be concerned about and accountable for the insecurity that threatens the countries and nations of the region because of the normalisation of relations with the apartheid Zionist regime,” the Iranian spokesman added.

Kanani also called on Bourita to spend more time resolving the humanitarian crisis in war torn Yemen, said to be the poorest country in the Arab world.

Bourita had made the comments during a press conference with the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates of the internationally-recognised Yemeni government, Ahmed Awad Bin Mubarak. Bourita said the kingdom “strongly” condemns Iran’s interference in Yemen and Arab internal affairs.

“Iran cannot continue to exploit this loophole to undermine security and stability in the Arab region, especially in Yemen, the Middle East and North Africa,” he said.

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Bourita also inferred that Morocco also has been a victim of Iranian interference, claiming that the Islamic Republic had provided drones to the Polisario Front independence movement, which has been fighting to end Morocco’s control over the disputed Western Sahara region.

It is not the first time Bourita had accused Iran of meddling in the North African country. In January, he said Iran was threatening “the spiritual security of Africa”, and vowed to stop it from spreading its influence across the continent.

“Iran plans to enter West Africa and to spread the Shia doctrine in the region,” he said at the time. These remarks were dismissed by then-Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Saeed Khatibzadeh as “unfounded projections”.

In 2018 Rabat severed relations with Tehran over allegations Iran and Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement were providing military support to the Polisario Front in collusion with neighbouring Algeria.