For several months, converging signals have pointed to a growing strategic alignment between Algeria’s military regime and the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Under the guise of energy cooperation and diplomatic coordination on the international stage, this alliance appears, according to multiple Western intelligence sources, to aim at structuring a common political and ideological axis built around open hostility toward Israel and support for Islamist armed groups operating in the Middle East and Africa.
Since the Hamas offensive against Israel in October 2023, both the Algerian and Iranian regimes, marked by antisemitic rhetoric, have multiplied gestures of solidarity and statements hostile to the State of Israel.
In a 2024 speech at the United Nations, Algeria’s foreign minister notably described Israeli operations in Gaza as “genocide,” a position warmly welcomed by Iranian authorities.
“Algeria seeks to consolidate its image as a regional power in North Africa, but in reality, it is increasingly aligning itself with Iran’s vision of a global resistance front against the West,” said a European diplomat based in Algiers.
According to a confidential report by a Center for Intelligence Strategy and Analysis, Iranian military advisers were received in Algiers at the end of 2024 to discuss regional security cooperation.
Across Africa, jihadist networks and armed groups are believed to benefit from safe havens in southern Algeria, facilitated by local authorities.
“These groups represent a pressure tool for Algiers, which seeks to maintain controlled instability in the Sahel in order to remain an indispensable regional security actor,” explained a military intelligence officer.
In the Middle East, Tehran continues to fund Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza. Western intelligence services suspect that certain Algerian logistical facilities, particularly financial channels operated through shell companies based in Oran, have been used to discreetly transfer funds.
On the military front, relations between Algiers and Tehran have intensified following the visit of Iran’s defense minister to Algeria. Officially focused on “training and cyber defense,” these talks reportedly included, according to an Algerian security source, more sensitive components: intelligence sharing on Islamist movements and discreet coordination of certain clandestine operations in Africa.
Members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard are also believed to have transited through Algerian Saharan bases, notably in the Tamanrasset region.
For regional observers, this rapprochement is part of a broader movement challenging the established geopolitical order.
“Algeria and Iran share the same logic: that of a post-Western world where authoritarian regimes support one another against liberal democracies and their allies,” said a researcher at the Middle East Policy Forum in Geneva.
Both countries also see their partnership as a means of overcoming diplomatic and economic isolation, one facing international sanctions over its nuclear program, the other facing persistent criticism for political repression and governance issues.
While Algeria’s material support for Hamas or Hezbollah has not been made public, cross-referenced intelligence data suggest the existence of an “informal axis” between Tehran and Algiers, founded on shared hostility toward Israel and on manipulation designed to reinforce their internal legitimacy and regional influence.