Rapprochement between Morocco and Iran?

Several reports have emerged about a possible diplomatic rapprochement between Morocco and the Islamic Republic of Iran after years of disagreements over the Ayatollahs' regime's alleged support for the pro-independence Polisario Front, a political rival of the Moroccan kingdom on such an important issue as the sovereignty of Western Sahara.

On several occasions the Islamic Republic has been linked to the Polisario Front, which has also been linked on other occasions to Hezbollah, a Lebanese Shia political group and armed militia closely linked to the regime of the Ayatollahs, which is the great standard-bearer of the Shia branch of Islam in the Middle East. 

Morocco broke off relations with the Islamic Republic of Iran in 2018 over alleged links woven between the Polisario Front and Hezbollah, which is closely linked to Iran, something that negatively affected the Moroccan kingdom, as indicated by various analysts. 

In this scenario, Iran has always pointed out that it has no problem with the North African country and that no rupture of relations was ever initiated on its part. However, the relationship was tense due to alleged ties with the Polisario Front. Some reports last year suggested that Iran may have allegedly armed the Polisario Front with drones, a claim denied by the Ayatollahs' regime. 

Several questions questioned the relationship between two Muslim countries, Morocco and Iran.

Now, various sources have indicated that a meeting has taken place between officials from both administrations to explore ways of strengthening political ties, something relevant considering that the Moroccan kingdom professes the Sunni Islamic faith, as opposed to the Shiite faith sponsored by Iran. This meeting took place in the context of other meetings on the Persian side with representatives of other nations such as Saudi Arabia, the main representative of the Sunni branch of Islam in the Gulf, and Oman, a country on the Arabian Peninsula known for its neutral and mediating role in the region.

The Iranian government referred to these reports, stating that Tehran had never initiated the severing of relations and that it always seeks to improve ties with neighbouring nations. ‘Iran has always welcomed the improvement and expansion of relations with neighbouring regional and Islamic countries,’ Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ismail Baqaei said, Iranian media Entekhab reported. 

‘The history of our relations with Morocco is clear. Iran has never taken the initiative to break ties. In accordance with our long-standing policy, we always welcome improved relations with countries based on the principles of wisdom, dignity and expediency,’ Ismail Baqaei argued.

According to various sources, along these lines, an Iranian official met with Moroccan representatives to explore the path of restoring ties between the two nations.

All of this taking into account that the Islamic Republic has been targeted by the Moroccan sphere for supplying the Polisario Front with weapons in its campaigns of threats and aggression against Moroccan interests in relation to the Western Sahara issue.

Iran has been denying this direct relationship and its role as a supplier to the Polisario Front over the years, although Morocco insisted on this, to the point that in 2018 Morocco's foreign minister, Nasser Bourita, said that Morocco provided detailed evidence of links between the Polisario Front and Tehran through the Ayatollahs' regime's relationship with the Lebanese Shia militia Hezbollah. 

All of this is in light of the fact that Iran has also been singled out from various quarters for its belligerence and interference in the internal affairs of other states through related Shiite groups, such as the aforementioned case of Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Popular Mobilisation Forces in Iraq and the Houthi rebels in Yemen.

The issue of alleged links between Iran and the Polisario Front is of great relevance to Morocco because of the problem posed by the Polisario organisation as a threat to Moroccan territorial integrity in relation to the Western Sahara issue.

Morocco proposes an Autonomy Plan for Western Sahara for the Sahrawi territory, which would remain under Moroccan sovereignty, respecting the resolutions of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of developing the territory as much as possible in all areas. 

The Moroccan kingdom's autonomous proposal has the support of more than 100 countries, which consider it to be the most serious, credible and realistic way of resolving the Saharawi dispute, which has lasted almost five decades since Spain left the area as a colonial power. 

Opposing this proposal is the opposition of the Polisario Front, which proposes a referendum on independence for the Saharawi people, which has less international support and would be difficult to carry out due to issues such as the elaboration of the census and the assessment of which Saharawis to include in the referendum, bearing in mind that many of them are in the so-called southern provinces of Morocco and others are living under difficult conditions in refugee camps in Algeria, a country that supports the Polisario Front and is a direct political rival of the Moroccan kingdom in the Maghreb.

It remains to be seen in the future whether the latest contacts between Moroccan and Iranian representatives can lead to the re-establishment of diplomatic relations between the two nations with a view to normalising the situation between two countries in the Muslim sphere, Morocco and Iran.