What’s behind Morocco’s decision to cut ties with Iran?

Tabnak – In line with the attempts made by Israel, Saudi Arabia and some of the other Arab regimes to put pressure on Iran in the region, Morocco has announced that it cuts official ties with Iran over allegations that Iran supports a Moroccan insurgent group. Tehran however has strongly denied these claims.

Morocco has cut diplomatic ties with Iran over its alleged involvement in the delivery of weapons from its Lebanese ally Hezbollah to the Polisario Front, Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita said Tuesday.

He claimed that “a first shipment of weapons was recently” sent to the Algerian-backed Polisario Front, which is seeking independence, via an “element” at the Iranian embassy in Algiers.

However, Iran has firmly rejected Morocco’s allegation of ties between Tehran’s Embassy in Algeria and the Polisario Front. Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qassemi said on Wednesday that there is no cooperation between the Iranian diplomatic mission in Algiers and the Algeria-backed movement.

Qassemi described Bourita’s accusations as “completely baseless, far from reality and wrong.”

“We need to clearly emphasize once again that one of the most fundamental principles of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s foreign policy in its relations with other governments and countries in the world has been and will continue to be deep respect for their sovereignty and security as well as non-interference in the domestic affairs of other states.”

Meanwhile, Lebanon’s resistance movement Hezbollah has said that Morocco cut ties with Iran due to pressure from the US, Israel, and Saudi Arabia. On Tuesday, Hezbollah released a statement in which it denied accusations made by Morocco concerning the resistance movement's training and arming of the Polisario Front.

The statement added that Morocco had decided to cut ties with Iran under “American, Israeli and Saudi pressure.”

Morocco has claimed Western Sahara since colonial power Spain left in 1975. But Polisario fought a guerrilla war for independence for the Sahrawi people until a United Nations-backed ceasefire in 1991, monitored by UN peacekeepers. Rabat maintains that Western Saharais an integral part of the kingdom, while the Polisario Front demands a referendum on self-determination.

Rabat’s move to severe ties with Tehran comes amid a new wave of Saudi and Israeli attempts to put pressure on Iran by distancing the Arab countries from Tehran. In this vein, Saudi Arabia has so far managed to successfully convince some Arab nations to cut ties with Iran, by the means of giving them financial incentives or threatening to isolate them in the Arab world.