Iran, China and Russia make waves in joint naval exercises

IRAN, China and Russia started four days of joint naval drills in the Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Oman yesterday, the commander of Iran’s flotilla announced.

The exercise comes at a time of heightened tensions since the United States withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran in May last year.

“The message of this exercise is peace, friendship and lasting security through cooperation and unity… and its effect will be to show that Iran cannot be isolated,” Rear Admiral Gholamreza Tahani said on state television.

Rear-adml Tahani added that the drills included rescuing ships on fire or under attack by pirates and shooting exercises, with both Iran’s navy and its Revolutionary Guards participating.

State television showed what it said was a Russian warship arriving at the port of Chabahar in southern Iran and said the Chinese would join shortly, calling the three countries “the new triangle of power in the sea”.

“The aim of this drill is to bolster security of international maritime commerce, combating piracy and terrorism and sharing information… and experience,” the flotilla commander said.

“Us hosting these powers shows that our relations have reached a meaningful point and may have an international impact,” he added.

Russia’s defence minister told Vladimir Putin, the president, yesterday that the first Avangard hypersonic missiles had been put into service.

Analysts say Russia is the first country to put into combat service intercontinental ballistic missiles armed with hypersonic weapons that Mr Putin said could travel 20 times faster than the speed of sound.