Russia Says Joint Naval Drills With Iran, China Planned

The Russian Pacific Fleet says it will take part in joint naval war games with Iran and China in without announcing the exact date and location for the drills.

The fleet’s press service said Tuesdaythat a delegation of Navy personnel has traveled to Iran’s southeastern port city of Chabahar for a planning session and preliminary coordination.

A detachment of warships from Russia’s Pacific Fleet, including large sea tanker Boris Butoma and Russian destroyer Admiral Tributs as well as missile cruisers Varyag and Guards Order of the Nakhimov, will join the Iranian and Chinese fleets for the drills.

The unit set out on a voyage from the southern port of Vladivostok in Far East Russia a few days before the 2022 New Year and anchored near Chabahar port on the Sea of Oman earlier in the week.

In August 2020, the Russian ambassador in Tehran, Levan Dzhagaryan, had said that joint naval exercisesin the Persian Gulf would take place at the end of 2021 or early 2022.

He had also said that the main focus of the exercises was to ensure safe navigation in international shipping lanes and anti-piracy operations.

Announcing the formation of Marine Security Belt -- also known as the portmanteau CHIRU -- China, Russia and Iran held their first joint naval drills in the region in the very last days of 2019.