Iran-Algeria-Polisario: The Invisible Alliance Expanding Its Reach Across Europe

Editorial: Africa Eye

In “Tehran’s Octopus”, Emmanuel Razavi and Jean-Marie Montali unveil the inner workings of a strategic axis linking Tehran, Algiers, and the Polisario Front, turning the Maghreb and France into silent battlegrounds for Iran’s influence project.

Tehran has never abandoned its ambitions to weigh in on the global stage. Yet instead of striking the West head-on, the Islamic Republic now relies on discreet proxies, unexpected alliances, and crisis zones to extend its reach. Algeria and the Polisario Front thus become central pieces in this apparatus, meticulously documented in this dense and impactful investigation by Razavi and Montali.

While Algiers is not an ideological ally of Tehran, it has proven to be a key operational partner. Through its airlines, embassies, and diasporic networks, Algeria facilitates the covert, logistical, and financial movements of Iranian services, particularly the feared Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and its external branch, the Quds Force. It is a partnership of circumstance, forged through a shared rejection of Western influence and tactical convergence: weakening Morocco—a close ally of the United States and Israel—while consolidating a presence in Africa and the Mediterranean.

In this chess game, the Polisario becomes an asymmetric lever. Not for ideological reasons, but because its conflict with Morocco provides Tehran with an entry point into the Sahara, a bridge into the Sahel, and a means to bypass Gulf monarchies. According to the book’s revelations, Sahrawi cadres are trained by Iranian instructors, while Algerian networks act as conduits for pro-Hamas and pro-Hezbollah propaganda on French soil.

Yet Tehran’s most effective tool remains the instrumentalization of the Algerian diaspora in Europe. In French suburbs, on campuses, and within activist associations, anti-Zionist rhetoric, support for the Palestinian cause, and rejection of the West become channels for ideological infiltration. Behind these causes—legitimate in the eyes of many—often lies the patient strategy of the Islamic Republic, weaving its networks deep within French society.

Razavi and Montali thus reveal a vulnerable France: associations that echo the mollahs’ messaging, academics who normalize anti-Western discourse, and influencers who become propaganda relays on social media. This is not a paranoid conspiracy; it is a methodical erosion aimed at weakening European societies while strengthening Tehran’s foothold.

Through testimonies from former intelligence agents and unpublished documents, “Tehran’s Octopus” illuminates an Iran–Algeria–Polisario axis which, under the banner of anti-imperialism, becomes a tool of destabilization targeting the Maghreb, the Sahel, and Europe. A silent yet powerfully effective strategy that reveals how deeply the Middle East, Africa, and Europe are now intertwined in the new wars of influence.