China, Russia and Iran join South Africa for naval drills as tensions run high

CAPE TOWN, South Africa — Chinese, Russian and Iranian warships launched a week of naval drills with host South Africa off the Cape Town coast Friday as geopolitical tensions run high over the United States' intervention in Venezuela and its move to seize tankers carrying Venezuelan oil.

The Chinese-led drills were organized last year under the BRICS bloc of developing nations and South Africa's armed forces said the maneuvers will practice maritime safety and anti-piracy operations and ''deepen cooperation.''

China, Russia and South Africa are longtime members of BRICS, while Iran joined the group in 2024.

The Iranian navy was taking part in the drills while protests grow back home against the Islamic Republic's leadership.

It was not immediately clear if other countries from the BRICS group — which also includes Brazil, India and the United Arab Emirates among others — would take part in the drills. A spokesperson for the South African armed forces said he wasn't yet able to confirm all the countries participating in the drills, which are due to run until next Friday.

Chinese, Russian and Iranian ships were seen moving in and out of the harbor that serves South Africa's top naval base in Simon's Town, south of Cape Town, where the Indian Ocean meets the Atlantic Ocean. China's ships include the Tangshan, a 161-meter (528-foot) -long destroyer class vessel. Russia's Baltic Fleet said it sent a smaller warship, the Stoikiy, and a replenishment tanker to South Africa.

South Africa also hosted Chinese and Russian ships for navy drills in 2023.

The drills are bound to further strain ties between the U.S. and South Africa, which is the most advanced economy in Africa and a leading voice for the continent but has been especially targeted for criticism by the Trump administration.

U.S. President Donald Trump said in an executive order in February that South Africa supports "bad actors on the world stage" and singled out its ties with Iran as one of the reasons for the U.S. cutting funding to the country. China and Russia have often used BRICS forums to launch criticism of the U.S. and the West.

South Africa has long claimed it follows a nonaligned foreign policy and remains neutral, but Russian presence on the southern tip of Africa has strained its relationship with the U.S. before. The Biden administration accused South Africa in 2023 of allowing a sanctioned Russian ship to dock at the Simon's Town naval base and load weapons to be taken to Russia for the war in Ukraine. South Africa denied the allegation.

South Africa's willingness to host Russian and Iranian warships has also been criticized inside the country. The Democratic Alliance, the second biggest political party in the coalition government, said it was opposed to hosting drills that included ''heavily sanctioned'' Russia and Iran.

''Calling these drills ‘BRICS cooperation' is a political trick to soften what is really happening: Government is choosing closer military ties with rogue and sanctioned states such as Russia and Iran,'' the Democratic Alliance said.