Iran has three warships waiting in False Bay, but they will not join South Africa, China, Russia and the UAE in the naval exercise Will for Peace. Iran has withdrawn from the joint naval exercise about to start in False Bay. The Iranian Navy sent three warships to False Bay last week, but it is understood that they will not participate in the naval drills.
Sources have confirmed that a decision has been made for the Iranian ships not to join the South African, Russian, Chinese and Emirati warships when they sail out to sea this week to conduct joint operations as part of the exercise Will for Peace 2026. The South African National Defence Force (SANDF) has billed it as a joint exercise of the BRICS+ forum of 10 countries. However, most of the 10 nations are not participating, or if they are, are doing so only in part.
Last week, two Chinese, two Russian, three Iranian and one Emirati warship arrived in False Bay. So far, the participating countries have only held a parade on shore and conducted planning. They were scheduled to set sail on Monday or Tuesday for the exercise at sea, which will include live firing as well as the coordination of other maritime operations.
Read Full Article on Daily Maverick
[paywall]
There have beenreportsthat Pretoria urged Iran to withdraw from the exercise to avoid antagonising the US in particular, at a sensitive time when the Iranian government is violentlysuppressing protestsat home, and the US House of Representatives is scheduled this week to debate a three-year renewal of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa). The legislation, which gives eligible African countries duty-free access to the US market for most of their exports,lapsedin September, but Congress has decided to revive it. It has been particularly useful for SA over the last 25 years, but there are concerns that SA might be excluded, in part because of its friendly relations with Iran, China and Russia.
A South African government source insisted to Daily Maverick that the decision for Iran to withdraw from the naval exercise had been taken before the protests erupted in Iran and before South Africa knew that the discussion about the Agoa renewal would take place this week. The source said the decision for Iran to pull out “was done in discussions with the different ministries of defence, including Iran”. The Iranian Navy sent the corvette IRIS Naghdi (No 82), the huge forward base ship IRIS Makran (No 441), and the expeditionary base ship IRIS Shahid Mahdavi (No 110-3) to False Bay last week to participate in the exercise. China’s guided missile destroyer Tangshan (No 122) and replenishment ship Taihu (No 889), the Russian corvette Stoikiy (No 545) and oil tanker Yelnya, the Emirati corvette Bani Yas (No P110), and the South African Navy’s frigate SAS Amatola are also in Simon’s Town or in False Bay to take part in the exercise, which will be led by China.
[/paywall]
