China, Iran and Russia hold joint naval drills in Middle East as tensions rise between Tehran and US

• Neither China nor Russia actively patrol the wider Middle East, whose waterways remain crucial for global energy supplies

Updated 12 March 2026

AFP

March 12, 2026 00:43

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TEHRAN, Iran: China, Iran and Russia conducted joint naval drills Tuesday in the Middle East, offering a show of force in a region still uneasy over Tehran’s rapidly expanding nuclear program and as Yemen’s Houthi rebels threaten new attacks on ships. The joint drills, called the Maritime Security Belt 2026, took place in the Gulf of Oman near the strategic Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Arabian Gulf through which a fifth of all crude oil traded worldwide passes. The area around the strait in the past has seen Iran seize commercial ships and launch suspected attacks in the time since President Donald Trump first unilaterally withdrew America from Tehran’s nuclear deal with world powers. The drill marked the fifth year the three countries took part in the drills. This year’s drill likely sparked a warning late Monday from the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center, which said there was GPS interference in the strait, with disruptions lasting for several hours and forcing crews to rely on backup navigation methods. “This was likely GPS jamming to reduce the targeting capability of drones and missiles,” wrote Shaun Robertson, an intelligence analyst at the EOS Risk Group. “However, electronic navigation system interference has been reported in this region previously during periods of increased tension and military exercises.” China and Russia in Mideast waters patrolled by US Navy Russia’s Defense Ministry identified the vessels it sent to the drill as the corvettes Rezky and the Hero of the Russian Federation Aldar Tsydenzhapov, as well as the tanker Pechenega. China’s Defense Ministry said it sent the guided-missile destroyer Baotou and the comprehensive supply ship Gaoyouhu. Neither offered a count of the personnel involved. Neither China nor Russia actively patrol the wider Middle East, whose waterways remain crucial for global energy supplies. Instead they broadly cede that to Western nations largely led by the US Navy’s Bahrain-based 5th Fleet. Observers for the drill included Azerbaijan, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, South Africa, Sri Lanka and the United Arab Emirates — with the Americans likely keeping watch as well. However, both China and Russia have deep interests in Iran. For China, it has continued to purchase Iranian crude oil despite facing Western sanctions, likely at a discount compared to global prices. Beijing also remains one of the top markets for Iranian imports. Russia, meanwhile, has relied on Iran for the supply of bomb-carrying drones it uses in its war on Ukraine. Iran highlights drills to boost public support after Israeli attack The drills marked a major moment for Iran’s state-run television network. It’s aired segments showing live-fire during a night drill and sailors manning deck guns on a vessel. The exercises come after an Iranian monthslong drill that followed a direct Israeli attack on the country, targeting its air defenses and sites associated with its ballistic missile program. While Tehran sought to downplay the assault, it shook the wider populace and came as a campaign of Israeli assassinations and attacks have decimated Iran’s self-described “Axis of Resistance” — a series of militant groups allied with the Islamic Republic. Syrian President Bashar Assad was also overthrown in December, further weakening Iran’s grip on the wider region. All the while, Iran has increasingly stockpiled more uranium enriched at near weapons-grade levels, something only done by atomic-armed nations. Tehran has long maintained its program is for peaceful purposes, even as its officials increasingly threaten to pursue the bomb. Iran’s nuclear program has drawn warnings from both Israel and the US that it won’t allow Tehran to obtain a bomb, signalling military action against the program could happen. But just last week, Trump sent a letter to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, seeking a new nuclear deal with Tehran. Iran says it hasn’t received any letter, but still issued a flurry of pronouncements over it. Yemen’s Houthis renew threats to Mideast waterways As a shaky ceasefire holds in Israel’s war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Yemen’s Houthi rebels have threatened to resume their attacks on shipping in the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait that connect the two waterways. The rebels’ secretive leader Abdul-Malik Al-Houthi warned Friday that attacks against Israel-linked vessels off Yemen would resume within four days if aid didn’t resume to Gaza. That deadline came and went Tuesday. Though no attacks were reported, that again put shippers on edge. The rebels had targeted over 100 merchant vessels with missiles and drones, sinking two vessels in their campaign that has also killed four sailors.