Arabic version: المغرب يؤكد إعادة تسمية طريق سريع باسم ترامب

According to BBC News, Morocco’s King Mohammed VI has confirmed in a letter to US President Donald Trump that a major highway is being named in his honour. The letter, dated 2 July and published over the weekend by Morocco’s state press agency, described the change as “a personal expression of my high regard”.

Trump had thanked the king for the honour in a social media post last week, though Moroccan authorities had not made a parallel announcement at the time. The road was formerly known as the Tiznit-Dakhla highway. King Mohammed called the 1,055km (655-mile) route a “strategic axis” linking the north and south of Morocco.

The highway enters Western Sahara, most of which Morocco occupies and claims sovereignty over. Part of the territory is controlled by the Polisario Front, an armed group seeking independence for the local Sahrawi people. A former Spanish colony, Western Sahara is considered a “non-self-governing territory” by the UN and has been disputed for five decades.

In the letter, the king praised Trump’s 2020 recognition of Morocco’s claim over Western Sahara, calling it a “historic recognition” that would “forever be etched in the memory of Moroccans, from generation to generation”. The US recognition came during Trump’s first administration as part of an agreement under which Morocco normalised relations with Israel.

Trump’s Truth Social post included a video about the highway, saying it cost nearly $1bn (£740m) to build. He wrote that he looked forward to travelling its full length “someday, hopefully soon”. The UN has continued to seek a settlement to the dispute, including a referendum, while the African Union recognises Western Sahara’s independence.