China, Iran, and Russia Launch Joint Naval Exercises Amid Heightened Regional Tensions
China’s Ministry of Defense has announced plans for a joint naval exercise with Iran and Russia. According to the ministry’s official statement, these drills will be conducted in waters near Iran.
Tasnim News Agency, which is affiliated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), reported that the maneuvers were set to begin Monday, March 10 (18 Esfand) in southeastern waters near the Port of Chabahar. While similar Iran-Russia-China naval exercises have taken place in recent years, this latest event unfolds at a time when Israel and the United States have repeatedly threatened military action against Iran as a means to contain its nuclear program. These threats, which have intensified during Donald Trump’s presidency, underscore the heightened tensions surrounding Tehran’s nuclear activities.
In this exercise, Iran deployed 10 groups of ships from the Army Navy and the Revolutionary Guard, while Russia dispatched two destroyers and one support vessel. China also took part in the exercise with one destroyer and one support vessel. According to Iranian state media reports, military observers from Azerbaijan, South Africa, Oman, Kazakhstan, Pakistan, Qatar, Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, and Sri Lanka were also present. The Chinese Ministry of Defense stated that the exercise included naval target battle drills and joint rescue operations. Military officials said the goal of the maneuver was to strengthen trust among the armed forces of the participating countries.
While these drills are not the first of their kind, since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, both Iran and China have faced additional scrutiny over their military ties to Moscow. In March 2022, Iran, Russia, and China conducted a four-day naval exercise, having carried out a similar series of maneuvers one year earlier in the northern Indian Ocean. Both the Iranian Navy and the IRGC Navy participated in the previous drills, officially known as the “Maritime Security Belt Combined Exercise 2022.” They took place in the Gulf of Oman, an extension of the Persian Gulf and Strait of Hormuz—a strategic maritime corridor through which roughly one-fifth of the world’s oil transits.
Following Iran’s accession as a permanent member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and its closer ties through the BRICS framework, Tehran has bolstered its relationship with both Moscow and Beijing. Even as Russia has engaged in talks with the United States regarding a possible end to the war in Ukraine, Iran has reacted coolly to a mix of offers and threats from the United States. Abbas Araghchi, after a recent meeting in Tehran with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, reaffirmed that Iran “will not negotiate directly with the United States” on its nuclear program, adding that Tehran would proceed “in coordination with Russia and China.”
In January 2025, Iran and Russia formally signed a strategic cooperation agreement aimed, according to the Kremlin, at “strengthening military, political, trade, and economic relations” between Tehran and Moscow. About a year earlier, NATO’s former Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg had warned of an “alliance of authoritarian regimes,” noting that these nations appeared to be “cooperating more closely” against Western democracies. Particularly in the case of Russia and Iran, severe Western sanctions have only appeared to drive the nation’s security and economic cooperation closer together.