La cúpula militar marroquí trata con Estados Unidos la amenaza iraní en el norte de África

The Moroccan head of the Moroccan armed forces, Lieutenant General Belkhir El Farouk, went to Washington DC this week at the head of a Moroccan military delegation to co-chair the 12th session of the US-Moroccan Defence Consultative Committee. Opposite the Moroccan general sat the US Under Secretary for Defence Policy, Colin Khal. 

According to press releases issued by the Pentagon and the Moroccan media, the meeting was another opportunity to strengthen bilateral cooperation between the two countries, which have seen their military relations take a step forward since the signing of the 2020-2030 roadmap for defence cooperation. 

Cooperation between the two countries in this area is historic. Morocco strives to maintain its position as the best US ally in the region, a position that is hardly disputed. Historically, Morocco has hosted the large US military exercise in North Africa, the African Lion, although the next edition of the exercise in Morocco has been put on hold and a potential change to Tunisia as the venue for the manoeuvres is being considered. 

Morocco's current defence affairs were also reportedly discussed at the meeting. According to sources close to the meeting quoted by Arab media, the Moroccan delegation discussed the potential Iranian threat in North Africa with its US counterpart. The Moroccan thesis points to Iran's entry into the Sahara and the Sahel through the armed group Hezbollah and its relations with the Polisario Front, under the protection of Algeria. 

These allegations escalated in the last weeks of October, when the Moroccan representative to the UN, Omar Hilale, claimed in New York that Iran is preparing to supply the Polisario Front with war drones. The Interior Minister of the self-proclaimed Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, Omar Mansur, who during a visit to Mauritania mentioned the use of drones by the insurgent armed forces in the future, denied the existence of any relationship between Iran and the Polisario. 

The threat of a Russia-Algeria-Iran axis is nevertheless evident and growing in North Africa. The US is aware of this, but it is not yet known what concrete policies the Pentagon is developing with its allies to slow the advance of the opposing axis. In a potential new defence policy in the region, the role of Morocco and southern European states are essential to these plans. 

Algeria's intentions to see its defence spending double, presumably in order to export its armed forces to these countries in the future, is one of these first priorities. Mali could be completely at the mercy of the influence of the Algerian-Russian axis, and then many more African countries that turn their relations away from the European and Western bloc. 

Morocco is playing its cards hard with the US to show that it is subject to the threat from Iran through the Polisario armed insurgency. It is on Rabat's agenda to get its head in the US plan to fund Arab countries that might be attacked by Iran. The US Congress approved an expansion of its foreign military aid budget, which included a line item reserved for countries that have signed up to the Abraham Accords. 

"The funds appropriated in this section, including for assistance to Egypt, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan, Morocco, and any member country of the Gulf Cooperation that the Secretary of State deems appropriate, are to be used in part to enhance multilateral defence cooperation with Israel, and to establish integrated air defence networks between those countries and Israel, including to counter missile and unmanned aircraft system attacks by Iran and its proxies," states the National defense authorization act for fiscal year 2023.

The amount of the aid amounts to 6 billion dollars, and aims to create an air defence network among the countries subject to the aid. Morocco is the country that is geographically disengaged.

Coordinator for the Americas: José Antonio Sierra