U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz questioned Robert J. Palladino and LTC Joel Borkert, USA, Retired, during a U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations hearing entitled, “Countering Terrorism in North Africa: Opportunities and Challenges. He clearly urged US administration to label the Polisario front as a terrorist organization.
Ted Cruz considered that the Polisario Front, a separatist group in Western Sahara founded in 1973, is underrecognized but growing terrorist threat under Iran’s influence.
According to his staement during the session, Iran is funding, training, and supplying the group, attempting to turn it into a West African proxy similar to the Houthis.
The republican senator accused Polisario of collaboration with Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and Hezbollah. It uses drones, transfers weapons , and conctribute to regional destabilization, Cruz said.