Morocco demands Iran’s support of Polisario be discussed at Arab Summit 

Morocco has reiterated claims that Iran is actively supporting the Polisario Front, an independence movement opposed to Rabat’s control over the disputed Western Sahara.

Yesterday during a preparatory meeting of foreign ministers of the Arab League, Morocco’s delegation demanded that Iran’s collusion with the Poliario be on the agenda, Al-Arabiya reported.

A senior diplomatic source denied rumours that Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita had returned to Rabat from the Algerian capital, Algiers, where the Arab Summit will be hosted tomorrow, the first such gathering since the normalisation agreement with Israel, the Abraham Accords, were signed in 2020 between several Arab states including Morocco.

Bourita reportedly brought up claims that Iran has been supplying the Polisario Front with armed drones to be used against Moroccan armed forces. Earlier this month, a member of the European Parliament alerted the EU over recent security threats against Morocco’s army, citing intelligence on possible drone supplies to the separatist group.

However, his Algerian counterpart, Ramtane Lamamra, is said to have refused the proposal, leading to a protest by the Moroccan diplomat. Algeria has cordial relations with the Islamic Republic, and has been previously accused by Rabat of collaborating with Iran in supporting the Polisario.

“You don’t have the right to refuse,” Bourita was quoted as saying, adding that “There is a vote and a consensus.”

Tensions erupted again yesterday after an Algerian state news channel used a map of the Arab world, which Rabat considered to be “wrong”.

In 2018 Morocco severed diplomatic relations with Iran after accusing Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement, which is backed by Iran of arming and training the separatist movement.

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The visit by the Moroccan delegation to Algeria ahead of the Summit comes amid heightened diplomatic tensions between the two countries, following Algiers’ decision to cut ties with Rabat last year citing security concerns after the kingdom resumed relations with Israel.

Morocco’s representative to the UN, Omar Hilale, also brought up the kingdom’s concerns over Iran’s growing influence in North Africa, suggesting it is attempting to destabilise the region.

Speaking to reporters after the adoption by the UN Security Council of a resolution renewing the mandate of the UN mission in the Sahara for another year, Hilale said: “After destabilising Yemen, Iran is trying to destabilise our region.”

“Drone possession by the Polisario is a serious development…I hope that is propaganda and misinformation,” said Hilale.

“Polisario use of drones will be a game changer at the military level and Morocco will react consequently,” he warned.

Earlier this month, Iran’s Foreign Ministry responded to previous charges made by the Moroccan government of meddling in the affairs of Arab states, dismissing them as “vain and repetitive”.

The ministry’s spokesman Nasser Kanani instead called on Rabat to take responsibility for the insecurity threatening the region, as a result of its “normalisation of relations with the apartheid Zionist regime”.