China, Iran and Russia have begun a joint naval exercise in the Gulf of Oman, a crucial waterway near the mouth of the Persian Gulf, officials said Tuesday.
Footage broadcast by Chinese state television and a video released by the Russian navy show the ongoing exercise, dubbed “Maritime safety belt 2024″.
China sent the guided missile destroyer Urumqi and the guided missile frigate Linyi to the exercise. Russian forces are led by the Varyag, a Slava-class cruiser.
More than 20 ships, support ships and combat boats from the three countries, as well as naval helicopters, are participating in the exercise.
Iranian state television quoted exercise spokesman Admiral Mostafa Tajaddini as saying the exercise would take place over 17,000 square kilometers of water.
Mr Tajaddini added that the tri-nation exercise – their fourth since 2019 was also aimed at improving trade, combating “piracy and terrorism, to support humanitarian activities and the exchange of information in the field of rescue“, among other objectives.
Iran has increased military cooperation with Beijing and Moscow in response to regional tensions with the United States, notably over the supply of military drones to Russia, currently used in Moscow’s war against Ukraine.
Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Oman, Pakistan and South Africa are observers of the exercise.
Since 2019, the Gulf of Oman has been the scene of a series of attacks that the United States has blamed on Iran, as well as seizures of ships by Tehran, since the collapse of the agreement on nuclear agreement concluded with world powers. A fifth of all oil traded passes through the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf.