RABAT: Morocco has cut diplomatic links with Iran, the Moroccan Foreign Ministry said yesterday, in the wake of an outcry over a statement by an Iranian official questioning Bahrain’s sovereignty.
“The Kingdom of Morocco has decided to break its diplomatic relations with the Islamic Republic of Iran beginning this Friday,” the ministry said in a three-line statement.
It did not elaborate, but officials in Rabat said the action was part of Arab protest over the remarks by the Iranian official.
On Feb. 25, Rabat recalled its envoy in protest at what Foreign Minister Taieb Fassi Fihri said was “some inappropriate language” directed against Morocco in a communiqué reported by the Iranian news agency IRNA.
The Iranian statement was issued in response to a message of support sent by Morocco’s King Mohammed to Bahrain’s King Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa, calling Iran’s remarks on Bahrain’s sovereignty irresponsible.
According to media reports, Ali Akbar Nateq Nouri, an adviser to Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei, said last month Iran had sovereignty over Bahrain.
“We deem these remarks absurd and they contradict blatantly international law, principles and rules as well as the values of peaceful coexistence and good neighborliness advocated by our tolerant Islamic religion,” Mohammed wrote to Hamad.
On Feb. 27, Bahrain and Iran said they will maintain good relations, indicating that the diplomatic row was over between the Gulf neighbors.
