Through Algeria and Mauritania: This Is How Iranian Influence Expands in the Maghreb Region

Iran has been trying, for years, to be present in the Maghreb region, and now it is accelerating to deepen its relations, especially with Algeria and Mauritania, in light of Morocco’s ending relations with the Islamic Republic.

The message from the Iranian President, Ebrahim Raisi, to his Algerian and Mauritanian counterparts, was the latest of these attempts.

On January 6, 2023, the Mauritanian News Agency stated that the President of the Republic, Mohamed Ould Ghazouani, received a written message from the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Ebrahim Raisi, at the presidential palace in Nouakchott.

The same source said the message was delivered by Mohammad Mahdi Ismaili, Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance, and the special envoy of the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

The latter said that the Iranian president invited his Mauritanian counterpart to visit his country, stressing that Iran seeks to develop its relations with Mauritania in all fields.

The Algeria Times news website reported, on January 8, 2023, that the Islamic Republic of Iran invited President Abdelmadjid Tebboune to a state visit to Iran.

On January 7, 2023, Iranian Foreign Minister Hussein Amir Abdollahian informed Ramtane Lamamra of Raisi’s invitation to Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune to visit Tehran.

According to the same source, foreign Minister Hussein Amir Abdollahian discussed with Ramtane Lamamra the most important bilateral issues as well as developments in the region and the Islamic world.

Abdollahian announced his country’s readiness to convene a joint economic committee in the near future, describing the relations between the two countries as good and growing.

Minister Lamamra called on his Iranian counterpart to visit Algeria, stressing he is ready to conduct political consultations as well as to hold a meeting of the joint economic committee between the two countries in the near future.

 

Suspicious Movements

These Iranian moves come with the two neighboring countries of Morocco amid severed relations between Tehran and Rabat.

On May 1, 2018, Morocco decided to cut its diplomatic relations with Iran and asked its ambassador to leave Rabat and to recall their ambassador from Tehran, a step in which the password was Western Sahara.

Foreign Affairs Minister Nasser Bourita announced at the time that the Iranian Republic provides financial and logistical support to the Polisario Front through Hezbollah, which also provides military training for the Front.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry considered that Morocco was issuing baseless allegations at the time, but rather regurgitating accusations against Iran by those who wish to “sow” discord and division in the Islamic world.

In his reading of these Iranian calls, expert on African affairs and international relations Ahmed Noureddine said that the Iranian move could be read from two angles.

In his interview with Al-Estiklal, Noureddine said: “The first angle is related to the current international situation, in which the Velayat-e Faqih regime is trying to get out of the political and economic blockade imposed by the international system.

The latter considers Iran as a country that exports terrorism and contributes to spreading instability in the world in general and in its neighborhood through its militias in Iraq, Yemen, Syria, and others.”

He continued: “At this level, Iran is trying to open a breach in the wall of the international blockade, even through economically weak countries, such as Mauritania, or those suffering from political collapses, such as Algeria.”

As for the second angle, it is ideological, because the Iranian regime is trying to spread the Shiism project in the Maghreb region, according to the spokesman.

He indicated that this endeavor “also includes Islamic and African countries, with a noticeable focus on Africa in general, because it was special and pure in terms of the Sunni sect, since throughout history the Shiite project did not find a foothold in it.”

Noureddine stated that the Iranian move today is not the first of its kind, as Tehran managed to penetrate Mauritania, through its cultural centers and organizations that laid behind social assistance, as well as through merchants, especially from Lebanon, in addition to some other mechanisms, such as providing scholarships to students, and the infiltration of some parties that were revolving in the orbit of (the former head of the Iraqi regime) Saddam Hussein, considering Iran as a country that resists the American incursion into the region.

Also, “there is a very small party in Mauritania [which he did not mention] that received a lot of funding during the election campaign, which aroused astonishment. Today, there are thousands in the country who profess to be Shiites, and this leads us to the issue of Iran’s generosity in buying people and small parties.”

He added: “In Algeria, the same thing but with some differences.”

He pointed out that Iranian activity expanded in Algeria in the past nineties, and also warned that Iran had a strong move to spread Shiism among the Maghreb communities in Europe.

The head of the Atlantic Center for strategic studies and security analysis, Abd al-Rahim al-Manar al-Sulaimi, confirmed that the arrival of the Iranian envoy to Mauritania at this time raises many questions.

Al-Sulaimi explained in a video analysis he posted on his YouTube channel, January 7, 2023, that the reason for the surprise lies in the fact that Iran’s internal situation is tense, and it has lost a number of cards in the region, and it is now expecting external strikes.

He said that Iran wants to achieve some things in the region, on top of which is the spread of Shiism, through the Polisario Front to carry out aggressive actions against Morocco, stressing that it wants to create a nucleus for Hezbollah on Algerian soil, and its plans include Mauritania and Tunisia.

Al-Sulaimi stated that the Executive Director of Iranian Intelligence, Ismail Al-Khatib, held two meetings with Jabbar Muhanna, Director General of Documents and External Security (Foreign Intelligence), the first in Tajikistan in September 2022 at the Iranian embassy, and the second in Lebanon during November 2022, in the presence of Hezbollah members.

Based on this, he made it clear that Iran is seeking, with these moves, to penetrate Mauritania to isolate Morocco, according to his estimation.

After the university professor said that Iran is using Algeria and the Polisario Front, he stressed that its plans need the Mauritanian side to pay attention to what is happening.

The dispute here revolves around the Sahara region, on which Rabat proposes expanded autonomy under its sovereignty, while the Polisario Front calls for a referendum on self-determination, a proposal supported by Algeria, which hosts refugees from the region.

 

Security Threat

On October 19, 2022, a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the European Parliament, Antonio Lopez-Isturiz White, addressed a written question to the High Representative for Foreign Policy of the European Union, Josep Borrell, initiating it by referring to a statement by a member of the Polisario Front that Iran would provide the Front with Kamikaze drones to use against Morocco.

Hespress said, on January 6, 2023, that the leader of the Polisario Front, Omar Mansour, had made a direct threat to Morocco during a visit to Mauritania in early October 2022, as he promised that they would use drones against the Kingdom.

Antonio Lopez-Isturiz White warned against the use of Iranian military equipment in Western Sahara, stressing that this represents a serious threat to the fragile security and stability in the region.

He also stressed that Iran’s incursion into the region constitutes a clear danger to the United Nations Ceasefire Agreement (between Morocco and the Polisario Front) in 1991, and threatens the peace process, the work of the United Nations Mission in Western Sahara, and the diplomatic efforts of the United Nations Personal Envoy to bring the parties to new negotiations.

He asked about the measures that the European Union will take to prevent the use of drones that Tehran provides to the Polisario Front, to prevent escalation in the region, and to limit Iran’s infiltration into the Sahara and Sahel region.

According to The New Arab’s report published on October 28, 2022, Morocco had previously threatened to take a strong and appropriate response in the event that the Polisario Front used Iranian drones to threaten the safety and security of its territory, accusing Tehran of destabilizing the region.

This was stated by Morocco’s permanent ambassador to the United Nations, Omar Hilale, during a press conference held on October 27, after the issuance of the UN Security Council’s decision to extend the mandate of the United Nations Mission in the Sahara, MINURSO, for an additional year, until October 31, 2023.

In response to a journalist’s question, Hilal warned against the Polisario Front using Iranian drones to threaten Morocco’s security and safety, stressing that his country will act forcefully and there will be dire consequences.

Hilale did not provide further details about the Moroccan response, but he stressed that “the matter will be left to the Royal Armed Forces to determine how to respond, describing providing the Polisario Front with these drones as very dangerous.

In addition, the Moroccan diplomat accused Iran of arming the Polisario Front with advanced weapons, including drones, pointing out that Tehran and Hezbollah have now moved from training to arming the separatist Front, which is a very dangerous matter, as they are now working to destabilize “our region after Yemen, Syria, and Iraq.”

Hilale showed pictures of drones that he said Tehran had handed over to the Polisario Front, pointing out that their price ranges between 20 and 22 thousand dollars, and that buying one plane would feed 300 people a year in the Tindouf camps, provide treatment for 500 people and educate 120 children.

Morocco had proposed, during the meeting of Arab foreign ministers in the capital, Algiers, to include a point on Iranian interference in the North African region in the agenda of the Arab summit, which was held on the first and second of November 2022.

According to what was published by Madar 21 news website on October 30, 2022, Algerian Foreign Minister Ramtane Lamamra said, in a brief statement to reporters after the end of the meetings, that it “allowed consensual results to be reached after rich and in-depth consultations.”

The website stated that Lamamra rejected Morocco’s proposal to condemn Iran’s arming of the Polisario Front with military drones.

The expert in international relations and African affairs, Ahmed Noureddine, told Al-Estiklal that any rapprochement between Algeria, Mauritania, or any other Maghreb country from Iran would be very costly for these countries, and is not in their interest.

He added: “From a political point of view, it is not in the interest of the Algerian and Mauritanian regimes to approach this internationally rejected regime, especially from the United States of America and the West in general, which considers it a source of instability.”

He stressed that any rapprochement, especially in political, security, and strategic matters, might put these regimes in the firing range of the United States.

Regarding Algeria, the same speaker added that it has no return from the rapprochement with Iran because they share the same economic structure, that is, the export of oil and gas.

The only return for the Algerian regime remains an attempt to push Iran to re-recognize the Polisario Front, but these attempts would be “playing with fire.”

As for Mauritania, the expert in international relations continues: “We may understand its rapprochement with Iran for financial support, economic promises, or investment, but it turned out that there were Iranian promises in 2014 from Tehran, and nothing was achieved.”

Therefore, Noureddine concludes that the Mauritanian return is small and weak compared to what it will lose if it deepens its relations with Iran, given what Mauritania is currently characterized by in terms of the unity of sect and religiosity, and it is the same loss that Algeria may suffer if it does the same.