Morocco severs ties with Iran over Polisario support

2018-05-02 04:04:08

(MENAFN) On Tuesday, Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita said that his country has decided to sever diplomatic ties with Iran over what he regarded as Tehran's support for the Polisario Front, a Western Sahara independence movement.

"Morocco will break off diplomatic ties with Iran over its support to Polisario," Bourita told the Sky News Arabia channel.

The Moroccan Foreign Ministry issued a statement, saying that the key reason for termination of its relations with Iran would be the military support of the Polisario Front by the Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah.

Meanwhile, Polisario Front activist Nana Lyubat Rashid told 'Sputnik' that Moroccan government's accusations that Iran and Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah are supporting the movement.

"The Moroccan accusations of Iran and Lebanese Hezbollah are absolutely false," Rashid said.

Morocco claimed control of most of the Western Sahara after the end of Spanish colonial administration of the territory in 1976. Fighting later broke out between Morocco and the Polisario Front rebel movement, ending in signing a ceasefire in September 1991.

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