Diplomatic brawl brews between Morocco and Iran over Polisario and normalisation

Morocco's foreign minister has once again accused Iran of sponsoring 'terrorism' in the Arab world, namely in  Yemen and the disputed territory of Western Sahara.

During a joint press conference on Monday with his Yemeni counterpart, Nasser Bourita, Morocco's foreign affairs minister, blamed the situation in Yemen on Iran’s arms sponsorship to the Houthis militia.

"Iran can no longer (…) continue to undermine security and stability in the Arab region. We see this in Yemen, we also see it in North Africa and Morocco also suffers from this interference," said Bourita.

Bourita also alleged that Tehran had provided "drones" to the separatist Polisario Front movement, which has been fighting against Morocco in the disputed territory of Western Sahara since 1973.

"Iran is currently the official sponsor of separatism and terrorism in our Arab region," added the Moroccan minister.

Tehran's officials quickly rejected Rabat's accusations, calling on the North African Kingdom to "stop playing blame games."

"Morocco had better be concerned about and accountable for the insecurity that threatens the countries and nations of the region because of the normalisation of relations with the apartheid Zionist regime," Nasser Kanaani, Iran's foreign ministry spokesperson, said during a press conference.

The Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson also advised Morocco's foreign minister to  "instead of seeking help from the Zionist regime to impose its demands on the region, pave the ground for self-determination by the people of Western Sahara."

The Iranian-Moroccan feud goes back to 2018 when Rabat halted diplomatic ties with Tehran over allegedly backing the Lebanese Hezbollah group to train Polisario Front separatist fighters in Western Sahara.

Both Tehran and Hezbollah denied the accusation.

In January, Morocco's FM renewed the feud after vowing to protect "the spiritual security of Africa" from the Iranian plan to infiltrate the continent and spread its Shii influence.

Tehran has rejected the accusations.

Several Arab Gulf countries, including Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and UAE, have either severed or downgraded diplomatic relations with Iran, accusing Tehran of interference in the domestic affairs of the West Asian and North African region.