Why are Russia, Iran and China holding naval drills under the BRICS banner?

China, Russia, Iran naval drills

Chinese, Russian and Iranian warships have entered South African waters for a week-long naval exercise beginning Friday off the coast of Cape Town, against the backdrop of heightened geopolitical tensions over the United States’ intervention in Venezuela and its seizure of tankers carrying Venezuelan oil.

The drills, led by China, were planned last year under the BRICS grouping of developing nations. South Africa’s armed forces said the exercise aims to bring bloc members together to practise maritime safety and anti-piracy operations and to “deepen cooperation.”

China, Russia and South Africa are founding members of BRICS, while Iran joined the bloc in 2024.

Iran’s participation comes as protests continue at home against the Islamic Republic’s leadership.

It remains unclear whether other BRICS countries — including Brazil, India and the United Arab Emirates — will join the drills. A spokesperson for South Africa’s armed forces said he was not yet able to confirm the full list of participating nations. The exercises are scheduled to run until next Friday.

Warships from China, Russia and Iran have been seen entering and leaving the harbour at Simon’s Town, south of Cape Town, home to South Africa’s main naval base at the junction of the Indian and Atlantic oceans. China’s deployment includes the Tangshan, a 161-metre-long destroyer-class vessel.

South Africa last hosted joint naval drills with Chinese and Russian ships in 2023.

The latest exercise was originally planned for late November but was postponed for diplomatic reasons, as South Africa was hosting Western and other global leaders for the G20 summit at the time.

The drills are bound to further strain ties between the U.S. and South Africa, which is the most advanced economy in Africa and a leading voice for the continent but has been especially targeted for criticism by the Trump administration.

U.S. President Donald Trump said in an executive order in February that South Africa supports "bad actors on the world stage" and singled out its ties with Iran as one of the reasons for the U.S. cutting funding to the country. China and Russia have often used BRICS forums to launch criticism of the U.S. and the West.

South Africa has long claimed it follows a nonaligned foreign policy and remains neutral, but Russian presence on the southern tip of Africa has strained its relationship with the U.S. before. The Biden administration accused South Africa in 2023 of allowing a sanctioned Russian ship to dock at the Simon's Town naval base and load weapons to be taken to Russia for the war in Ukraine. South Africa denied the allegation.

South Africa's willingness to host Russian and Iranian warships has also been criticized inside the country. The Democratic Alliance, the second biggest political party in the coalition government, said it was opposed to hosting drills that included “heavily sanctioned” Russia and Iran.

“Calling these drills ‘BRICS cooperation’ is a political trick to soften what is really happening: Government is choosing closer military ties with rogue and sanctioned states such as Russia and Iran,” the Democratic Alliance said.

(With inputs from AP)