{"id":15195,"date":"2026-01-10T12:40:16","date_gmt":"2026-01-10T12:40:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/15195\/"},"modified":"2026-01-10T12:40:16","modified_gmt":"2026-01-10T12:40:16","slug":"south-africa-defends-naval-drills-with-iran-china-russia-as-essential","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/15195\/","title":{"rendered":"South Africa defends naval drills with Iran, China, Russia as ‘essential’"},"content":{"rendered":"

SIMON\u2019S TOWN \u2013 South Africa began naval exercises with Russia, Iran and China on Saturday, describing the manoeuvres off its coast as a vital response to rising maritime tensions rather than merely a show of force.<\/p>\n

The week-long \u201cWill for Peace 2026\u201d exercises come just days after the United States seized a Russian-flagged oil tanker in the North Atlantic, claiming it carried crude bound for Venezuela, Russia and Iran in violation of Western sanctions.<\/p>\n

ALSO READ: US seizes Russian oil tanker with UK support in North Atlantic<\/a><\/p>\n

BRICS solidarity on display<\/p>\n

The drills, led by China, represent more than a military exercise and serve as a statement of intent among the BRICS group of emerging nations, according to Captain Nndwakhulu Thomas Thamaha, South Africa\u2019s joint taskforce commander.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a demonstration of our collective resolve to work together,\u201d Thamaha told the opening ceremony in Simon\u2019s Town.<\/p>\n

\"RearRear Admiral Thamsanqa Matsane, Flag Officer Fleet, welcomes ship captains on Friday 9 January, ahead of the \u2018Will for Peace 2026\u2019 multinational maritime exercise. Photo: SANDF<\/p>\n

BRICS, originally comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, has expanded to include Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and, more recently, Indonesia.<\/p>\n

International participation<\/p>\n

China and Iran deployed destroyer warships for the exercises, whilst Russia and the United Arab Emirates sent corvette vessels. <\/p>\n

Host nation South Africa dispatched a frigate, with Indonesia, Ethiopia and Brazil participating as observers.<\/p>\n

\"ChineseChinese and Iranian warships have arrived in Cape Town\u2019s Simon\u2019s Town naval base for the Will for Peace naval exercise. PHOTO: SANDF<\/p>\n

\u201cIn an increasingly complex maritime environment, cooperation such as this is not an option, it is essential,\u201d Thamaha emphasised, stating the exercises aimed to \u201censure the safety of shipping lanes and maritime economic activities.\u201d<\/p>\n

Previously known as Exercise Mosi, the drills were initially scheduled for November but postponed due to a clash with the G20 summit in Johannesburg, which the United States boycotted.<\/p>\n

The seizure of the Russian tanker followed an American operation that toppled Moscow\u2019s ally Nicol\u00e1s Maduro in Caracas.<\/p>\n

US criticism and tensions<\/p>\n

Washington has accused South Africa and the BRICS bloc of pursuing \u2018anti-American\u2019 policies and warned member nations they could face an additional 10 per cent tariff on top of existing duties already applied worldwide.<\/p>\n

ALSO READ: Multi-national naval exercise off South African coast draws international attention<\/a><\/p>\n

South Africa has drawn US criticism for its close ties with Russia and various policies, including its decision to bring a genocide case against Washington ally Israel at the International Court of Justice over the Gaza conflict.<\/p>\n

The country previously faced criticism for hosting naval drills with Russia and China in 2023, which coincided with the first anniversary of Moscow\u2019s invasion of Ukraine. The three nations first conducted joint naval drills in 2019.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SIMON\u2019S TOWN \u2013 South Africa began naval exercises with Russia, Iran and China on Saturday, describing the manoeuvres…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":15196,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[593,10009,10010,131,7322,580],"class_list":{"0":"post-15195","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-south-africa","8":"tag-brics","9":"tag-naval-exercise","10":"tag-sa-defence-force","11":"tag-south-africa","12":"tag-top","13":"tag-will-for-peace"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15195","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15195"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15195\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15196"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15195"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15195"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15195"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}