TEHRAN — Naval forces from China, Iran and Russia on Wednesday started four days of joint drills in the Gulf of Oman this week.
Other countries are also taking part in the “Security Bond-2023” exercises, the ministry said without giving details. Iran, Pakistan, Oman and the United Arab Emirates all have coastline along the waterbody lying at the mouth of the strategic Persian Gulf.
“This exercise will help deepen practical cooperation between the participating countries’ navies ... and inject positive energy into regional peace and stability,” China’s Defense Ministry said in a statement.
The exercise involves forces from the marine and airborne units of the Islamic Republic of Iran Navy, the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Navy, and flotillas from China and Russia.
They have held several joint war games in recent years with the purpose of improving the security of international maritime trade, countering piracy and maritime terrorism, exchange of information in naval rescue and relief operations, and exchange of operational and tactical experiences.
U.S. National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said Wednesday that the White House was not concerned by the joint training exercise. Kirby said the U.S. and other nations conduct training exercises all the time and this won’t be the first time that the Russians and Chinese have trained together.
“We’re going to watch it, we’ll monitor it, obviously, to make sure that there’s no threat resulting from this training exercise to our national security interests or those of our allies and partners in the region,” Kirby said on CNN. “But nations train. We do it all the time. We’ll watch it as best we can.”
The exercises scheduled for Wednesday through Sunday come amid heightened tensions between the U.S. and China over a range of issues, including China’s refusal to criticize Moscow over the Ukraine war and continuing support for the Russian economy.
The U.S. and its allies have imposed punishing economic sanctions on Russia and supplied Ukraine with defensive arms.
China has dispatched the guided missile destroyer Nanning to take part in the drills centered on search and rescue at sea and other non-combat missions. China maintains its only foreign military base, complete with a navy pier, in the Horn of Africa country of Djibouti, located just across the Gulf of Oman.
The three countries held similar drills last year and in 2019,