The Dangerous Ties Between the Polisario Front and Iran: An Underestimated Threat to Europe?

In recent years, the conflict in Western Sahara has revealed increasingly complex and troubling geopolitical dynamics. Among the most pressing of these is the growing alignment between the Polisario Front and the Islamic Republic of Iran, a convergence that should no longer be overlooked by European policymakers. This emerging partnership, combining ideological affinity and strategic utility, echoes the modus operandi that Iran has long employed with its established proxies, such as Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen. It now raises serious concerns not only for regional stability in North Africa but also for the security of Europe’s southern frontier.

A Belated Awakening to a Shifting Geopolitical Landscape

For decades, skepticism toward Arab and North African media has shaped Western assessments of the Western Sahara conflict. However, a growing number of reports from credible international sources have lent weight to longstanding warnings about Iranian interference in North Africa. An article published by The Washington Post on April 12, 2025, revealed the sophistication of Iranian arms smuggling routes via Hezbollah in Syria, an archetype of Tehran’s extraterritorial military influence¹. Such networks may now extend into the Maghreb via non-state actors like the Polisario. According to the article “Iran trained fighters from Algeria-based Polisario front with hundreds now detained by new Syria’s security forces”

This is not an isolated development. Iran’s relationship with the Polisario Front reflects a familiar pattern: exploiting marginalized, ideologically compatible, and militarized non-state actors to project influence far from its borders, much like it has done in Lebanon, Iraq, Syria, and Yemen. The Iranian model of asymmetric engagement, mixing religious rhetoric, proxy warfare, and access to smuggling networks, now finds new ground in the Western Sahara crisis.

Iran’s Expanding Influence in North Africa

The Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), in a policy brief dated April 17, 2025, documented Iran’s increasing strategic foot in North Africa, including the Tindouf camps in Algeria under Polisario control2. According to the report, “In 2022, a Polisario Front representative claimed that Iran would supply the group with kamikaze drones” .

This trend closely resembles the tactics Iran has employed with the Houthis in Yemen, offering military training, ideological indoctrination, and logistical support in exchange for loyalty and strategic alignment.

Iran’s motivation is clear: following setbacks in Syria and Lebanon, and with Hezbollah weakened, Tehran is searching for new vectors of influence closer to Europe’s borders. The Polisario Front, internationally isolated and weakened, presents a convenient and ideologically moldable instrument. Just as Iran has embedded itself into domestic conflicts across the Middle East under the pretext of “resistance” or “liberation,” it appears to be replicating this model in North Africa.

A Major Security Threat to Europe

It would be dangerously simplistic to view the Polisario-Iran link as a localized issue. North Africa, especially Algeria and Libya, has become a hotspot for illicit trade in arms, drugs, and human trafficking, activities that are commonly linked to Iranian proxies and now increasingly to the Polisario as well.

Several Polisario commanders have been implicated in transnational criminal operations. Libya, in particular, has emerged as a transit zone connecting Saharan and Mediterranean trafficking routes, mirroring the role of Lebanon for Hezbollah and the Red Sea for the Houthis. The case of Omar Ould Hamma, involved in the 2009 abduction of three Spanish humanitarian workers in Mauritania, is one example of the Front’s ties with terrorist networks such as Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM)3.

Moreover, the figure of Abu Walid al-Sahrawi, a former Polisario member turned leader of the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS), embodies the dangerous convergence of separatism, jihadism, and organized crime. His career arc reflects the type of transformation Iran encourages in its regional clients: from political marginalization to violent militancy serving broader anti-Western goals.

The Iranian Touch: Radicalization of the Polisario Rhetoric

In recent years, the Polisario’s discourse has undergone a radical shift toward militant language. In October 2023, the movement openly called for acts of sabotage and violent attacks against Moroccan civilians in the city of Assamara4. This inflammatory rhetoric, framed in terms of “holy war”, bears striking resemblance to that of Hezbollah and the Houthis, whose narratives are steeped in revolutionary, anti-Western ideology.

This ideological transformation is not incidental. It aligns closely with the Iranian doctrine of resistance, where the lines between national liberation, religious extremism, and proxy warfare are deliberately blurred. Iran’s influence is thus not only operational but discursive, embedding a language of existential struggle and martyrdom within the Polisario’s messaging, hallmarks of Tehran’s proxy strategy.

It is also telling that, following the assassination of Abu Walid al-Sahrawi by French forces in 2021, Western narratives focused on jihadist networks but largely omitted the former's affiliation with the Polisario5. This selective amnesia overlooks the critical point: groups like the Polisario can be incubators of radicalization and serve as gateways to transnational militancy, in ways disturbingly consistent with Iran’s regional playbook.

Strategic Implications for Europe

Europe must no longer turn a blind eye to this dangerous convergence of separatism, extremism, and Iranian interference. The EU’s security architecture, traditionally focused on Eastern Europe and the Russian threat, remains ill-prepared to deal with hybrid threats emerging from the South. Yet the Western Mediterranean, the Sahel, and the Strait of Gibraltar are now critical chokepoints in global security.

The Polisario is no longer a mere separatist movement. It increasingly mirrors the profile of Iranian proxies: ideologically radicalized, regionally embedded, transnationally connected, and strategically useful to Tehran. European institutions must recognize this evolution and reassess the Polisario's status not as a nationalist liberation group, but as a potential security threat backed by a hostile foreign power.

In this context, the initiative proposed by U.S. Congressman Joe Wilson, to designate the Polisario Front as a terrorist organization, should not be dismissed lightly6. While European approaches to security differ from those of Washington, the United States has often demonstrated foresight in anticipating emerging hybrid threats. The time has come for Europe to take similar action, before this axis of instability consolidates itself at the gates of the continent.

For more information:

1. The Washington Post, "Iran uses Syrian war to smuggle weapons to Hezbollah and beyond", April 12, 2025. Available at: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/04/12/syria-iran-hezbollah-weapons-smuggling/
2. Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), "Iran’s Foothold Reaches into North Africa", Policy Brief, April 17, 2025. Available at: https://www.fdd.org/analysis/policy_briefs/2025/04/17/irans-foothold-reaches-into-north-africa/
3. El País, "Al Qaeda secuestra a tres cooperantes españoles en Mauritania", November 30, 2009.
4. La Razón, "Radicalización del discurso del Frente Polisario que insta a cometer actos terroristas contra Marruecos", January 2025. Available at: https://larazon.pe/radicalizacion-del-discurso-del-frente-polisario-que-insta-a-cometer-actos-terroristas-contra-marruecos/
5. France 24, "The assassinated Abou Walid al-Sahrawi, France’s major enemy in the Sahel", September 16, 2021. Available at: https://www.france24.com/en/africa/20210916-the-assassinated-abou-walid-al-sahrawi-france-s-major-enemy-in-the-sahel
6. U.S. Representative Joe Wilson, Statement on X (formerly Twitter), April 16, 2025. Available at: https://x.com/RepJoeWilson/status/1910684554572050929

Source: www.dailyfinland.fi