King Mohammed VI of Morocco called on his country's partners to clarify their position on the disputed territory of Western Sahara and offer unequivocal support, AFP reported.

"I would like to send a clear message to the world: the Sahara issue is the lens through which Morocco views its international environment," he said in a televised speech on Saturday evening.

He did not specify which countries he was referring to, but he did welcome the irrefutable position of the United States.

He also called the issue a clear and simple measure of the sincerity of friendly relations between Morocco and its partners in a speech on the occasion of the Revolution of the King and the People, a national holiday commemorating the kingdom's anti-colonial struggle.

Rabat controls most of Western Sahara, which he considers his own territory.

Morocco fought a 15-year war with the Polisario Front independence movement after Spain withdrew from its former colony in 1975.

A UN-supervised ceasefire deal called for a referendum, but Morocco has since rejected any vote that includes independence as an option, offering only limited autonomy.

The US under former President Donald Trump recognized Morocco's sovereignty over the disputed former Spanish colony, a policy that has continued under his successor Joe Biden.

The king also praised the recent steps taken by Spain and Germany to abandon the old policy and recognize Rabat's initiative for the territory's autonomy.

After months of diplomatic squabbling, Spain publicly backed Morocco's autonomy plan for the disputed region in March.

Rabat and Berlin agreed in February to resume relations after a year-long diplomatic freeze over disagreements, including over Trump's recognition of Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara.