Iran may make headlines for its nuclear program and head-butting with Western governments, but the hard-line leadership in Tehran is also working hard to expand its influence in North Africa. As so-called moderate states and US allies like Morocco, Egypt and Saudi Arabia seek to distance themselves from the Islamic Republic, Iran is cultivating new economic partnerships. Mauritania is just one of the developing countries currently drawn to the technological superiority and oil wealth of the one regional power that threw off the yoke of Western interference in 1979 and has flaunted its independence ever since. But as Mauritania forges its first ever relations with the Islamic Republic, Morocco’s relations with Iran have come apart. In March, the Moroccan government in Rabat severed relations with Tehran, citing offense over what it perceived as a slight to the sovereignty of Bahrain, an important Moroccan ally. The perceived insult — a mild
