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Morocco's standoff with Iran
[TheJamestownFoundation] Morocco Flexes Its Muscles Over Western Sahara: An Analysis of Rabat’s Standoff With Tehran.On May 1, the Kingdom of Morocco made the dramatic step of severing all political ties with the Islamic Republic of Iran and withdrawing its ambassador from Tehran. The Moroccan government claimed to have evidence of Iranian support for the Polisario Front, the separatist group that has been seeking independence for Western Sahara since 1975 (al-Arabiya, May 1). The decision was, according to Morocco’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Nasser Bourita, the result of Iran providing military training and supplying weapons to Polisario fighters through its proxy, Hezbollah. “Hezbollah’s actions seek to undermine Moroccan interests and constitute an attack on the country’s territorial integrity,” Bourita said (Morocco World News, May 1). The identification of Iran and Hezbollah also implicated Algeria. The Polisario is based in Tindouf, in Algeria’s southwest, and the coordination of these contacts was said to have been done through the Iranian embassy in Algiers. [1] Moreover, Morocco had made explicit accusations the previous month alleging similar types of activity by Algeria (Hespress, March 30). Posted by: 3dc 2018-07-31 |
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