Iran, Russia and China have launched a joint naval exercise in the Indian Ocean aimed at boosting marine security, state media reported.
Iran's state TV said 11 of its vessels were joined by three Russian ships including a destroyer, and two Chinese vessels.
Iran's Revolutionary Guard will also participate with smaller ships and helicopters.
The report said the manoeuvres would cover some 17,000 square kilometres, or 6,560 square miles, in the Indian Ocean's north, and include night fighting, rescue operations and firefighting drills.
This is the third joint naval drill between the countries since 2019. It coincided with a recent visit by Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi to Russia.
"Improving bilateral relations between Tehran and Moscow will enhance security for the region and the international arena," Mr Raisi said upon returning from Russia on Friday, the official IRNA news agency reported.
Tehran has sought to step up military cooperation with Beijing and Moscow amid regional tensions with the United States. Visits to Iran by Russian and Chinese naval representatives have also increased in recent years.
Iran has been holding regular military drills in recent months, as attempts to revive its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers founder.
Russia is also at loggerheads with the US and the west over its neighbour Ukraine, where it has sent some 100,000 troops that Washington, Kyiv and their allies fear will be used to invade the country.
Russia on Thursday announced sweeping naval manoeuvres in multiple areas involving the bulk of its naval potential - around 140 warships and more than 60 aircraft - to last through to February.
The exercises will be held in the Black Sea, the Mediterranean, the north-eastern Atlantic and the Pacific Ocean, in addition to the joint exercise with Iran in the Indian Ocean.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel