The case for closer US-Morocco cooperation to counter Iranian influence in North Africa
Morocco stands as the only partner in North Africa with whom the new Trump administration can join forces to counter an increasing Iranian threat to destabilize the region through the supply of drones and rockets to Algeria’s Polisario proxies.
Polisario mouthpieces on social media have recently displayed photos of a truck loaded with the Iranian-made Arash 122 mm rockets, whose range has been extended to up to 40km.
The rocket shows the scale of Algeria’s involvement in acting as a gateway for Iran’s destabilizing acts in North Africa.
In late 2022, Omar Mansour, the Polisario’s envoy to Mauritania’s President said at a press conference in Nouakchott at the time: “The Sahrawi army will soon use armed drones in the war of attrition in Western Sahara.”
Iranian rockets and drones pose a serious threat to Morocco’s security amid reports of Polisario attempting to target civilians west of the Security wall in the Sahara territory.
Last year, a Polisario rocket fell on a residential area in Smara killing one civilian and seriously damaging a house.
Morocco had been warning since 2018 of Iranian destabilization acts in the region and the North African kingdom had severed ties with Tehran due to the involvement of its Hezbollah proxies in training and arming the Polisario militias, in full sight of Algerian authorities.
What the US can do
The last thing the US and its European NATO allies fathom is another full-blown war with Iranian involvement in North Africa on the EU’s doorsetps.
Iran has been fighting the West through Shiite proxies in Yemen, Lebanon, Iraq, Syria. In North Africa, it has found a proxy agent in the Polisario militias as it seeks to export its “Islamic Revolution” to north Africa, where Morocco has stood as a bulwark against Shiite proselytism.
The US, which recognizes Morocco’s sovereignty over the Sahara territory, is therefore called upon to put pressure on Algeria to put an end to its connivance with Tehran and stop the flow of Iranian arms to the Polisario militias.
The use of 40km range rockets and drones by a separatist militia with links to terrorist groups rampaging the Sahel could escalate a conflict that has been described as “low intensity.”
Closer US involvement in North Africa by opening a consulate in Dakhla as promised with strong defense cooperation with Morocco’s armed forces could send a clear deterrence message to Iran and Algeria that north Africa will not be the next proxy battle ground for the Mullahs.
