Gulf | Bahrain
Bahrain supports Morocco's move to sever ties with Iran
Morocco's decision to cut diplomatic ties with Iran was on Saturday supported by Manama, but questioned by Tehran.
- By Habib Toumi, Bahrain Bureau Chief
- Published: 18:24 March 7, 2009
Manama: Morocco's decision to cut diplomatic ties with Iran was on Saturday supported by Manama, but questioned by Tehran.
On Friday, Morocco's foreign ministry said that Morocco was severing its diplomatic relations with Iran following "the unacceptable attitude" of Tehran after Rabat expressed solidarity with Bahrain and in protest of Iranian moves targeting Morocco's religious unity and harmony.
Bahrain's foreign minister Shaikh Khalid Bin Ahmad Al Khalifa telephoned his Moroccan counterpart to express "Bahrain's official and popular appreciation of Rabat's support for Manama at all levels and times."
"Shaikh Khalid offered Bahrain's solidarity with Morocco and its condemnation of the acts by the Iranian diplomatic mission in Rabat. The foreign minister stressed that the purpose of diplomatic missions is to bridge gaps between nations and people based on mutual respect and non-interference in domestic affairs," Shaikh Khalid was quoted as saying by Bahrain News Agency.
However, in Tehran, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki questioned the motive for the move.
"Of course it is the decision made by the Moroccan government itself, but the move is surprising and questionable," Mottaki on Saturday told reporters in his country's first official reaction.
Morocco said that its move to cut off diplomatic relations was triggered by Iran's "inadmissible attitude" against Morocco, and its "interference" in the country's religious affairs.
The North African kingdom last week recalled its ambassador in Tehran for consultations for a one-week period after Iran summoned him to protest against a Rabat statement supporting Bahrain after Ali Akbar Nateq Nuri, a prominent member of Iran's Expediency Council, made claims to the island kingdom.
Several countries voiced strong solidarity with Bahrain, but the Moroccan ambassador in Tehran was the only one to be summoned by the Iranian foreign ministry, prompting Morocco to express its surprise and to seek clarifications.
"Morocco is astonished by the non-amicable and inadmissible treatment the kingdom's ambassador has been subject to by Iranian authorities," the Moroccan foreign ministry said, and Foreign Minister Tayyeb Fassi Fihri summoned Iran's ambassador Vahid Ahmadi to express displeasure. But in the absence of explanations from Tehran, Rabat announced that it was severing the diplomatic ties.
Tensions have gripped bilateral relations after Morocco, an overwhelmingly Sunni country whose king is also called as the Commander of the Believers, complained of "attempts by Iranians to spread the Shiite doctrine among Moroccans, mainly those living in Europe."
According to Mohammed Dhareef, an international relations professor in Rabat, around 20,000 Moroccans have recently become Shiite, a move that Morocco condemned as "intolerable interference in the internal affairs of the kingdom" and as an attempt to "alter the religious fundamentals of the kingdom and threaten Morocco's religious unity."
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