U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), joined by Sens. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) and Rick Scott (R-Fla.), has introduced new legislation that could place a little-known North African militant group in the crosshairs of America’s most powerful counterterrorism sanctions.
The Polisario Front Terrorist Designation Act of 2026 would require the Secretary of State to investigate whether the Polisario Front is cooperating with Iranian-backed terrorist groups. If confirmed, the group would be officially designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO).
“The Polisario Front is a terrorist organization that openly supports Iran and Hezbollah. Designating these terrorists as such is long overdue,” said Sen. Cotton.
The Polisario Front
Many Americans may have never even heard of the Polisario Front. The group’s full name is the Popular Front for the Liberation of Saguia el-Hamra and Río de Oro – a reference to the two historic regions making up Western Sahara, a territory roughly the size of Colorado, wedged between Morocco and Mauritania on Africa’s northwest coast.
Founded in 1973 as an insurgency against Spanish colonial rule, the group shifted focus when Spain withdrew in 1975, and Morocco moved in. Backed by neighboring Algeria, the Polisario waged a guerrilla war against Moroccan forces until a UN-brokered ceasefire in 1991. A promised independence referendum was never held.
Today, the group controls roughly 20% of the territory from desert camps in Algeria, while Morocco holds the rest.
The Polisario declared its own government-in-exile – the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic – in 1976 and has long presented itself to the world as an independent movement.
However, that image has grown harder to sustain as evidence of the group’s criminal operations and close ties to terrorism has grown.
Iran, Hezbollah, and Beyond
In November 2020, the Polisario broke a ceasefire by re-engaging in armed hostile attacks after blocking a key trade corridor linking Morocco to Mauritania. Since then, its ties to U.S. enemies have continued to draw attention from leaders in D.C.
Reports from April 2025 revealed that Iran had trained Polisario fighters and supplied them with unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).
These reports only added to earlier warnings, including a 2022 European Parliament inquiry that highlighted a Polisario official’s public admission that Iran was providing them with “kamikaze” drones. Additional reports claimed that Hezbollah had set up training camps for the group in Algeria, while Tehran supplied more missiles – concerns serious enough that Morocco severed diplomatic ties with Iran in 2018.
But the terrorism ties don’t stop with Iran.
The Foundation for Defense of Democracies has documented that Adnan Abu al-Walid al-Sahrawi – the Islamic State leader killed by French forces in 2021 – once held a senior Polisario position before moving on to work for al-Qaeda and then ISIS.
The House version of the bill, introduced in 2025, also notes that fighters from the PKK – a Kurdish militant group already designated as a terrorist organization by the U.S. and the U.K. – attended a Polisario-hosted “summit” as recently as January 2025.
“The Iranian regime is trying to turn the Polisario Front into the Houthis of West Africa and use them to undermine the national security of the United States and our allies. The Polisario Front is working with Iranian terrorist groups, receiving drones from the IRGC, and moving weapons around the region on behalf of the Iranian regime,” Cruz said.
“This bill will ensure that America’s most powerful anti-terrorism sanctions can be used to counter those threats and, once a designation is secured, the Polisario Front and its leaders will be cut off from access to the global financial system, international travel, and the resources they rely upon to conduct their terrorism,” Cruz added.
Geopolitical Stakes
Morocco is a Non-NATO Ally and a U.S. counterterrorism partner in a region facing persistent instability and geopolitical pressure. That region has been hit by a wave of military coups and rising jihadist violence, while Iran, Russia, and China compete for influence and power.
Researchers at the Hudson Institute warn that Polisario’s weapon smuggling networks in the area could endanger American personnel and intelligence operations.
Official terrorist designations require action by the State Department, and the Polisario still maintains significant diplomatic support from various African and Latin American governments.
The group itself denies all terrorism allegations.
