Morocco is no longer alone in warning about military ties between Algeria and Iran and their consequences for North Africa and the Sahel.

From the other side of the Atlantic, voices are also heard condemning this cooperation, which favours the destabilisation of the region.

US columnist Llewellyn King warned in the Boston Herald of the “direct threat” to Morocco posed by Iranian drones supplied to the Polisario Front via Algeria.

Late last year, Rabat accused Tehran of sending drones to the Sahrawi separatist group, which, according to Morocco’s foreign minister, Nasser Bourita, destabilises “North and West Africa”. 

“Iran, after undermining the stability of Syria, Yemen, Iraq and Lebanon, is in the process of stabilising our region,” declared Omar Hilal, Morocco’s ambassador to the United Nations. For this reason, the diplomat assured that Morocco “is not the only one concerned”, but that it is a challenge that concerns the entire region.

In this regard, the Kingdom has also condemned Hezbollah’s influence in the region. “Moroccan diplomats are raising this issue with Western governments,” the US analyst notes.

King also asserts that “Morocco has reason to be concerned”, as drones can cause significant material damage to tourist resorts as well as military installations, networks and power plants, as has happened to Saudi Arabia with drones – also Iranian – launched by Houthi militias from Yemen.

King recalls that Tehran began developing such weapons during the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war. He says that the regime has gone from creating simple drones effective only for surveillance, to developing generations of increasingly sophisticated large and small drones.

In his article, King mentions Ilan Berman, vice president of the US Foreign Policy Council. According to Berman, the only effective defence system against drones is Israel’s Iron Dome, built with Israeli technology and funded by the US. King writes that Morocco might request such a system to counter threats from Iran now that it is back on good terms with Israel. 

This situation reflects very well the strategy pursued by the Islamic Republic of Iran to gain influence and destabilise the region. To this end, Tehran invests significant amounts of money in financing armed groups, as well as in the development of weapons that will later be shipped abroad.

At this point, it is also worth mentioning the relevant and dangerous alliance between Russia and Iran and the shipment of Iranian drones to the Russian army for use in the war in Ukraine.

The issue of Iranian drones in North Africa has also reached the European Parliament through the European People’s Party MEP Antonio López-Istúriz White, who asked the High Representative for Foreign Policy and Security, Josep Borrell, what information Brussels has on the alleged supply of Iranian drones to the Polisario.