America’s ‘Great Power Adversaries’ Unite at Sea: China, Russia and Iran Stage Joint Naval Exercises in Gulf of Oman

The navies of China, Russia and Iran have staged their first ever trilateral maritime exercises from December 27th, which are aimed at strengthening military cooperation between the three parties. These drills come amid escalating tensions between Iran and the Western Bloc and a fast growing and hostile Western military presence near Iranian waters. The three powers represent three of the United States’ four ‘great power adversaries’ alongside North Korea - with Pyongyang having been one of Tehran’s closest defence parters since the early 1980s. While China and Russia have formed extremely close military ties since the mid 2000s, bringing Iran further into their fold could boost the collective security of all three parties - with all of them perceiving constable threats from the Western Bloc in their own respective regions. The exercises are taking place in the Gulf of Oman and the Indian Ocean, the former which is located between the latter and the Strait of Hormuz and marks a transit point for one fifth of the world's oil supplies.

China’s People’s Liberation Army Navy notably deployed the most capable warships at the exercises, the 7,000 ton guided missile destroyer Xining, which deploys powerful AESA radars and a range of munitions including 58 vertical launch cells allocated to HHQ-9 long range surface to air missiles and multiple YJ-62 cruise missiles. While far from China's most capable destroyer, the Type 052C Class ship is considerably more modern than any in the Russian or Iranian fleet and represents the bulk of the combat potential at the exercises. Russia for its part has deployed three warships, a Neustrashimy Class frigate, a tugboat and a small tanker. Neustrashimy Class ships displace 4,400 tons at full load and are equipped with 32 vertical launch cells housing SS-N-9 surface to air missiles, a navalised variant of the Tor system, as their primary armament. The exercises are likely to be the first of many involving the three powers, and could eventually lead to some degree of interoperability between their navies. Iran for its part has embarked on an ambitious destroyer program, the Hormuz Project, and these ships are likely to participate in future exercises.