During a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on countering terrorism in North Africa, Republican Senator Ted Cruz pressed officials to clarify whether U.S. references to terrorist threats in the Sahel were aimed at the Polisario Front. The responses, however, were described by as «evasive» in an otherwise heated session. DR ‹ › It was a tense exchange on Tuesday in the U.S. Congress during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing titled «Countering Terrorism in North Africa: Opportunities and Challenges». During the session, U.S. Senator Ted Cruz repeatedly pressed State Department officials on what he described as the «Polisario Front's terrorist activities and its «threat to the Sahel». Reacting to testimony by Robert Palladino, Senior Bureau Official at the State Department's Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs (NEA), who spoke of U.S. reliance on North African partners to «provide critical support to ensuring terrorist activity in the Sahel does not spread», Cruz asked whether this «somewhat opaque reference to terrorist activity in the Sahel is about the Polisario Front». «Iran is trying to turn the Polisario Front into the Houthis for West Africa, a proxy force capable of waging war to threaten regional stability and pressure U.S. partners whenever Iran wants leverage», Cruz argued. «I believe they should be designated as a terrorist group, and I've drafted a bill to do so if there is no change in their behavior», he revealed. An opaque reference to the Polisario Palladino's response, however, fell short for Cruz, who described it as «positively Shakespearean». «What I was referring to with regard to the Polisario is that President Trump has made clear his desire to achieve a lasting resolution to the Western Sahara dispute», Palladino said, adding that Washington is «constantly assessing threats to the American homeland, and we have a process for doing so». «Do you assess, at this time, that the Polisario Front poses a threat to U.S. interests in any sense?» Cruz pressed. The reply remained unchanged: «We are actively engaging all parties to the Western Sahara dispute in the interest of achieving a lasting and durable peace», Palladino said. A visibly frustrated Cruz then turned to Joel Borkert, deputy coordinator for programs and military coordination at the State Department's Bureau of Counterterrorism, asking whether threats posed by Iran and its proxies in North Africa included the Polisario Front. Yet again, the outcome almost identical. «We work with our partner countries to counter those threats and, where possible, to designate, or encourage the designation of, the IRGC, Hezbollah, and other terrorist groups», Borkert replied, without naming the Polisario. Annoyed by what he saw as evasive answers, Cruz concluded by asking whether officials had been instructed «not to say anything negative about the Polisario Front». «I received no such instructions», Borkert answered. Calls to designate the Polisario Front as a terrorist organization have grown louder among U.S. lawmakers. In 2025, a more concrete step came with a bill championed by Republican Congressman Joe Wilson, supported by four other Republican lawmakers. Under U.S. law, the State Department has the authority to designate groups, movements, NGOs, or individuals as terrorist entities. In March 2025, the Trump administration used this authority to re-list Yemen's Houthis as a terrorist organization, reversing their earlier removal under the Biden administration.
