IRIA News

Naval forces from China, Russia, and Iran have come together in the Gulf of Oman in the Arabian Sea to conduct a joint drill, attaining a negative response from Washington, and raising tensions in the region.

The trilateral naval drills called Maritime Security Belt 2023 started on March 15 and will continue until March 19, 2023. According to the Chinese ministry of defense, the drills will help “deepen practical cooperation among the navies of participating countries.”

Russia’s defense ministry also released a statement about the naval drills stating that the exercise would include various joint maneuvers from day time and night time joint artillery firing.

The Russian Navy is represented in the drills by a naval group that consists of the frigate Admiral of the Fleet of the Soviet Union Gorshkov and the medium sea tanker Kama, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement.

Iran has dispatched its Sahand and Jamaran frigates, the Bayandor corvette, and other ships and vessels from the Navy of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Beijing dispatched its guided missile destroyer Nanning to participate in the drills for aerial search, maritime rescue, ship parade formation exercises, and other tasks. The Chinese ship had been stationed at China’s only offshore military base in Djibouti, at the horn of Africa, located across the Gulf of Oman.

According to the Russian Ministry, “At the first stage of the drills, the naval sailors from the three countries will practice episodes of the trilateral naval exercise on maps for joint operations at sea, receive instructions and hold tactical briefings.”

The statement further added that during the second stage, “the navies from the three countries will exercise to set up a multinational task force of combat ships, conduct joint maneuvering and carry out artillery firings. The naval sailors will also practice freeing a captured vessel, rendering assistance to ships in distress, and some other objectives.”

The trilateral exercise will facilitate the deepening of the practical cooperation among the navies of the participating countries, further “demonstrate their willingness and ability to jointly protect maritime security, actively build a maritime community with a shared future, and inject a positive momentum to the regional peace and stability,” the Chinese Military said in a statement.

The Gulf of Oman is a critical choke point between the Arabian Sea and the Persian Gulf that has coastlines of Iran, Oman, UAE, and Pakistan. The western side of the Gulf of Oman connects to the Strait of Hormuz, an important strategic route where one-third of the world’s liquified natural and 20% of Middle Eastern oil passes through every year.

The exercise comes at a time when tensions are rising between Russia, China, and Western countries. Washington is increasing pressure on Beijing for not openly criticizing Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine. The U.S. officials are repeatedly accusing China of supporting Russia in Ukraine war as they speculate that China is planning to provide lethal weapons to Moscow to be used against Kyiv, a claim that Beijing denies.

Tensions between Russia and the U.S. are also rising after a U.S. drone fell down in the Black Sea as it came in contact with a Russian fighter jet. The U.S. claims that a Russian fighter intercepted the drone that caused it to crash, while the Russian side claims that there was no physical contact, however, condemns that the U.S. drones were breaching Russia’s aerial integrity in the region.

As global attention shifts to the western fronts in Ukraine, China is increasing its involvement in the Middle East. Last week, Beijing hosted a breakthrough meeting between the two Middle Eastern rivals, Saudi Arabia and Iran. The meeting resulted in an agreement between Iran and Saudi Arabia as they announced the restoration of their diplomatic relations that had been severed since 2016. China regards this as a huge win for the region.

Washington is keeping a close watch on China’s increasing military and political activities in the Middle East. While speaking about the ongoing military drills in the Gulf of Oman, the U.S. National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said that “We’re going to watch it, we’ll monitor it, obviously, to make sure that there’s no threat resulting from this training exercise to our national security interests or those of our allies and partners in the region.”