Morocco has decided to cut its diplomatic relations with Iran, after remarks by an Iranian official on Bahrain hit a nerve in the Arab world.

The Moroccan Foreign Ministry said in a Friday statement that the decision would be effective immediately, the official MAP news agency reported.

The decision comes shortly after relations between Iran and Bahrain ventured into troubled waters after a senior Iranian cleric, Ali Akbar Nateq-Nouri, recalled how during the reign of the last monarch of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, Tehran had renounced its right to its 14th province -- Bahrain.

Nateq-Nouri later defended his comments by saying that he had only intended to compare historical events before and after the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Different Iranian officials including Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani have said that Tehran respects Bahrain's territorial integrity and does not intend to challenge the country's sovereignty.

MD/HGH