The U.S. Congress has released details of a proposed law seeking to designate the Polisario Front as a terrorist organization in the United States. Introduced by Congressman Joe Wilson, the proposal is based on the separatist group's alleged ties to organizations such as Hezbollah and state actors like Iran. The U.S. Congress has released details of a proposed bill introduced by Congressman Joe Wilson that seeks to designate the Polisario Front as a terrorist organization in the United States. Titled «Polisario Front Terrorist Designation Act», the bill asserts that the Polisario Front has a documented history of ideological and operational ties with Iran, a designated state sponsor of terrorism, dating back to at least 1980. It cites instances where Polisario fighters were seen publicly displaying images of Ruhollah Musavi Khomeini, in what the bill describes as an attempt to gain revolutionary credibility and attract Iranian support. The proposal draws on reporting by Jeune Afrique, which revealed that in 2018, three Hezbollah officers were training Polisario fighters in the Tindouf camps. One of those trainers was later killed in an Israeli airstrike in Syria in November 2023 and had previously been sanctioned by the United States for his role in orchestrating the 2007 Karbala attack in Iraq, which killed five U.S. soldiers. According to the bill, Iran's support for the Polisario has expanded beyond training to include the supply of lethal weapons. It references a 2022 broadcast in which the Polisario's so-called «Minister of the Interior», Omar Mansour, stated that their fighters were training on «assembling and operating armed drones». The following year, images of Iranian-made munitions surfaced on Polisario-linked social media accounts, claims that have since been verified by open-source weapons analysts. The bill also cites an April 2025 Washington Post report confirming that Iran had trained Polisario fighters and provided them with drones. Additionally, the proposal references the participation of the Syrian branch of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), a designated terrorist organization, at the Polisario's «Sahrawi Solidarity Summit», held in the Tindouf camps from January 4 to 7, 2025. Autonomy Plan or Terrorist Designation The bill stipulates that within 180 days of its enactment, the Secretary of State must submit a report to the relevant congressional committees that includes: - A description of the Polisario Front's leadership, military operations, and foreign sponsors; - An account of the group's ties—financial, operational, and communicational—with Iran and Russia; - An assessment of its relationships with foreign terrorist organizations, including Hezbollah, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and the PKK; - An analysis of whether the group has deliberately targeted civilians. Furthermore, within 90 days of enactment, the Secretary of State must determine whether the Polisario Front meets the legal criteria to be designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization under Section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act. If so, sanctions must be imposed under Section 1263 of the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act. Separately, within the same 90-day timeframe, the Secretary of the Treasury must evaluate whether the Polisario Front qualifies for sanctions under Executive Order 13224, which targets entities linked to terrorism. The bill includes a waiver clause, allowing the President to forgo the designation and associated sanctions if it is determined that the Polisario is «engaged in good faith negotiations» to implement the Moroccan autonomy plan for Western Sahara, first proposed to the United Nations Security Council in 2007. The plan envisions granting Sahrawis a high degree of autonomy under Moroccan sovereignty. As per U.S. legislative procedure, the bill must pass through several stages, including review in committee and votes in both the House and Senate, before it can be signed into law by the President.
