Morocco severs ties with Iran over alleged ties with Polisario Front

Morocco will sever diplomatic ties with Iran over Tehran's support for the Polisario Front, a Sahara independence movement, the Moroccan foreign minister said on Tuesday.

The Polisario Front have fought a guerrilla war for independence for the Sahrawi people until a UN-backed ceasefire.

Morocco will close its embassy in Tehran and will expel the Iranian ambassador in Rabat, Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita told reporters.

He said that Iran and its Lebanese Shiite ally Hezbollah were supporting the Polisario by training and arming its fighters.

It was not immediately possible to get Iranian reaction to the Moroccan accusation.