Ahmed Kamel – Egypt Daily News
Warships from China, Russia and Iran have launched a week-long series of naval exercises with host nation South Africa off the coast of Cape Town, a move that comes amid heightened geopolitical tensions and growing friction between Western powers and emerging strategic blocs.
The drills, organized under the framework of the BRICS grouping, began on Friday near Simon’s Town, home to South Africa’s main naval base at the meeting point of the Indian and Atlantic oceans. South African defense officials said the exercises are focused on maritime safety, anti-piracy operations and enhancing operational cooperation between participating navies.
China, Russia and South Africa are long-standing members of BRICS, while Iran joined the bloc in 2024 as part of its recent expansion. The exercises underscore the group’s increasing emphasis on security cooperation, complementing its political and economic coordination.
Naval activity was visible throughout the week as Chinese, Russian and Iranian vessels moved in and out of Simon’s Town harbor. China deployed the Tangshan, a large guided-missile destroyer, while Russia’s Baltic Fleet sent the corvette Stoikiy along with a support tanker. Iran’s participation comes at a time of heightened domestic pressure on its leadership, adding a political dimension to its presence in the drills.
South Africa previously hosted similar naval exercises with China and Russia in 2023, reinforcing a pattern of military engagement that has drawn international attention. The current drills were initially scheduled for late November but were postponed for diplomatic reasons after South Africa hosted a major international summit attended by Western and global leaders.
The exercises are expected to further strain relations between South Africa and the United States. Washington has been increasingly critical of Pretoria’s foreign policy posture, accusing it of aligning too closely with countries viewed by the US as adversarial. The Trump administration has singled out South Africa’s ties with Iran as well as its growing military cooperation with Russia and China as reasons for reducing diplomatic and financial engagement.
South Africa has consistently defended its actions by asserting a non-aligned foreign policy and maintaining that it does not take sides in global power rivalries. However, the presence of Russian and Iranian warships at one of Africa’s most strategic naval locations has fueled skepticism abroad and criticism at home.
Domestically, the drills have sparked political debate. The Democratic Alliance, the second-largest party in South Africa’s coalition government, said it opposed hosting exercises involving Russia and Iran, both of which face extensive international sanctions. The party argued that framing the drills as routine BRICS cooperation obscures a deeper shift toward closer military ties with states viewed as destabilizing actors on the global stage.
The broader context of the exercises includes rising global tensions linked to conflicts in Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Latin America, as well as disputes over energy security and maritime routes. Analysts view the drills as a signal of deepening coordination among non-Western powers seeking to project influence beyond their immediate regions.
As the exercises continue through next week, they are likely to remain a focal point of international scrutiny, highlighting South Africa’s increasingly complex position at the crossroads of global power competition and its evolving role within the expanding BRICS bloc.
