China this week held joint military exercises with Russia and Iran in the Gulf of Oman, a vital waterway near the entrance to the Persian Gulf.
The Russian Ministry of Defense stated that the five-day “Sea Safety Belt 2024” exercise involved the participation of the navy and aviation forces, and its main goal was to strengthen the security of maritime economic activities.
Analysts say the exercises may have been planned well before the current Israel-Hamas war, but their influence and message to regional players and Western countries is important.
More than 20 ships, combat craft, support aircraft carriers and naval helicopters participated in the exercise.
Iran’s semi-official Mahr News Agency reported that Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) demonstrated new warships for the first time during the exercise, including the Shaheed Soleimani frigate.
“This is a game changer,” Wendell Minnick, a weapons expert and podcaster on “China in Arms,” told VOA.
“Keep an eye on the anti-ship missiles on the ship,” Minnick said. “The U.S. Navy does have a problem with these types of missiles.”
The Shaheed Soleimani frigate operated by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards is equipped with long-range and short-range anti-ship cruise missiles. This is the first Iranian warship to be equipped with the advanced VLS (Vertical Launch System) for launching surface-to-surface and surface-to-air missiles.
“This creates a nightmare scenario for the U.S. Navy where they can’t collectively defeat a multi-directional attack,” Minnick said. “It’s like being attacked by bees or ants. Eventually they’re going to get you.”
Major General Mohammad Nozari, commander of the Chabahar base of the Gulf of Oman of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, told the Meir News Agency that the main goal of this exercise is to consolidate regional security, promote China-Russia-Iran cooperation, and maintain global peace and maritime security.
Analysts say China, Russia and Iran have targets that go far beyond the claims of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ top naval commander.
“China and Russia are using this exercise as every tool at their disposal to project their presence and pressure the West,” said Meir Javidanfar, who teaches Iranian security studies at Reichmann University in Herzliya, Israel. .”
“The Chinese say these exercises are normal and have nothing to do with what is happening in the Middle East,” Javidan Far told VOA.
Still, these exercises are taking place against the backdrop of an unprecedented U.S. and Western naval presence in the Middle East, signaling a rising competition between the China-Russia-Iraqi front and the West, in which the eastern waters of the Middle East play an important role. . “
This competition is even more important given the recent increase in Chinese participation in regional exercises.
In November, China and Pakistan held the “Sea Guardian 3” joint naval exercise in the Arabian Sea. This is the largest joint exercise between the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy and the Pakistan Navy to date, including both land and sea phases.
Chinese warships are stationed at a naval base in Djibouti near the Red Sea, where the Iran-backed Houthi rebels, which claim solidarity with the Palestinians in the conflict between Israel and Hamas, have repeatedly fired drones and missiles at the ships since last year. China has not publicly condemned the attacks.
“If China really wants the Houthis to stop their attacks on Western shipping, they can put pressure on the Iranians and the Iranians will listen, but they won’t do it because they want to pressure Western economies and show that they are there regional influence,” Javidan Far said.
“The exercises play a role in a larger strategy led by China, Russia and Iran,” Javidan Far said.
Sophie Kobzantsev, a Russian analyst and researcher at the Misgav Institute in Jerusalem, said the Gulf of Oman drills were part strategy and part information.
Kobzantsev told VOA: “From the very beginning of the Russia-Ukraine war, Russia’s goal has been to establish a new world order in which to gain the role or status of a super world power.”
“Part of the concept of the New World Order is to establish a military balance against the West to a certain extent. This exercise is beneficial to Russia, Iran and China, to create such an image and message to the West that there is a counter-strategic strategy.” Military alliance. “
Leading the Russian task force is the Pacific Fleet’s guided-missile cruiser Varyag, according to the Russian Defense Ministry. Naval representatives from Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Oman, India and South Africa served as observers during the exercise.
The exercise comes a week after NATO’s Nordic Response exercise, the alliance’s largest exercise since the end of the Cold War in 1991. Sweden and Finland, NATO’s newest members, are participating in the Nordic Response exercise.
The exercise also has a “counter-message” as the United States continues to strengthen its foothold in the Middle East due to its role in mediating the Abraham Accords between Israel and the Gulf states, pursuing normalization of relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia, and currently mediating between Israel and Hamas. significance. Kobzantsev.
The area where joint exercises take place is also important. An estimated 20% of globally traded oil is transported through the narrow Strait of Hormuz passage connecting the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Oman.
Since 2019, there have been a series of ship seizures and attacks in the Gulf of Oman that the United States has blamed on Iran, but Tehran has denied any involvement.
“We are actually seeing a world pattern that reminds us of the Cold War, where a new conflict is taking place between the world’s superpowers,” Kobzantsev said. “The West versus Russia, China and Iran.”
“Maritime Safety Belt 2024” is the fourth joint military exercise between China, Russia and Iran since 2019.
Adrianna Zhang contributed to this report.
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