On Dec. 20, Iran appointed an ambassador to Morocco, five years after diplomatic relations between the two countries were severed at the instigation of Morocco. Ongoing contacts between the two countries’ foreign ministers since February 2014 suggest that Morocco will soon reciprocate and name its own ambassador.
Iran officially announced the appointment of Mohammad Taghi Moayed, a career diplomat familiar with the Maghreb who previously served in Tunisia. Rabat, however, has been more discreet about its rapprochement with the Islamic Republic. The kingdom has put conditions on resuming relations with Tehran; one of them is to obtain guarantees that Iran will refrain from proselytizing its own brand of Shiite Islam. Suspected religious activism, especially in northern Morocco, was one of the reasons that led Rabat to break diplomatic relations with Iran in March 2009. Morocco also cited Iran’s interference in the affairs of Bahrain, an allied Sunni monarchy ruling over a majority of Shiites. Diplomatic cables revealed by WikiLeaks later alleged that King Mohammed VI, without the knowledge of the Moroccan government, had unilaterally put an end to his country’s relations with Iran at Saudi Arabia’s request.
“Morocco’s relationship with Gulf countries is of prime importance, both economically and politically, especially since the Arab Spring, when Sunni monarchies formed an alliance to ward off popular revolutions. The kingdom’s relationship with Iran is anecdotal by comparison,” said Youssef Belal, an Iran specialist and a researcher in anthropology at the University of California, Berkeley. Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries committed $5 billion in aid for the 2012-17 period to help sustain Morocco’s economy.
Why, then, has Iran been intent on a rapprochement with Morocco? “Because since Hassan Rouhani’s election [in June 2013], Iran is no longer a rogue state; Iran must show it is respectable again and seek out allies that are close to the West,” Belal told Al-Monitor in reference to Morocco’s alliance not only with Arab Gulf countries but also with European countries — particularly France and the United States.
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