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French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu pledged to deepen security and counterterrorism cooperation with Morocco during a high-level visit to Rabat on Thursday.
Lecornu and his Moroccan counterpart, Aziz Akhannouch, signed an “enhanced exceptional partnership” agreement to seal the alliance.
This diplomatic breakthrough follows France’s decision to back Morocco’s sovereignty claim over the disputed Western Sahara.
However, explosive new espionage reports threatened to disrupt the diplomatic victory.
A media consortium led by Forbidden Stories, including the newspaper Le Monde, published findings indicating that Morocco used Israeli-made Pegasus spyware to monitor French ministers—including Lecornu himself—during past diplomatic disputes.
The Pegasus software surreptitiously hacks smartphones, allowing operators to read messages, track locations, and record audio or video.
The breaking espionage reports prompted the leaders to cancel their scheduled press conference, leaving them to issue only brief statements to reporters without taking questions.
While Morocco fiercely denies the spying allegations and demands proof, France’s presidential office stated that Paris remains committed to rebuilding trust with Rabat.
