NCRI – Morocco's foreign minister said on Sunday that the mullahs are hiding behind cultural and non-governmental organizations in a concerted bid to implant their ideology in the Arab state, according to wire services.
Taieb Fassi Fihri criticized Iranian regime's "activism" in Morocco, nine days after it severed diplomatic relations with Tehran.
The cut in ties was the outcome of a row triggered by a mullahs' official who questioned Persian Gulf neighbor Bahrain's sovereignty. Morocco leapt to Bahrain's defense.
The remarks made by Ali Akbar Nateq Nuri, a prominent member of the regime's powerful Expediency Council and former speaker of the Majlis (parliament), touched a raw nerve in Bahrain and among Arab nations. He said that it [Bahrain] used to be Iran's 14th province and that it had a representative in the Iranian parliament.
"Supposed cultural activities cannot take this form because they are a restriction of fundamental Moroccan (rights)," Fihri added.
While the minister said Shiite adherents in Morocco could be counted in the hundreds, he warned that "Morocco cannot accept activities of this type, whether ordered directly or indirectly, or via so-called NGOs.
In 2007, Iran's ambassador angrily demanded that a Moroccan artist withdraw from an art exhibit in Mexico a photograph he deemed offensive to Islam.
