The multi-national "Will for Peace 2026" naval exercises began Saturday off the coast of Cape Town, hosted by South Africa, and is set to run for one week. It is widely being described as a BRICS and "BRICS+" naval drill and saw a Russian warship arrive off South Africa's primary naval base on Friday.
The Russians joined Chinese and Iranian vessels for the drills, along with other BRICS members Indonesia, Ethiopia and Brazil - which participated as observers.
The nation heading up the drill is China, and it's being seen as an attempt of BRICS and Global South countries to flex their collective military might in the wake of the Trump-ordered ousting of Venezuela's Nicolás Maduro. The other members of the bloc - India, Egypt and Saudi Arabia - are not represented at the drills.
Naturally it is especially Iran which could be a ripe target for the next Trump regime change action, as it's not yet gone nuclear. But Tehran wants to showcase its much more powerful nuclear-armed friends China and Russia, which have defense and economic cooperation agreements with the Islamic Republic.
South Africa's defense force has described that the exercises will allow participating navies "to exchange best practices and improve joint operational capabilities, which contributes to the safety of shipping routes and overall regional maritime stability."
This will make already somewhat strained relations with Washington even more delicate for Pretoria. With this US relationship in mind, a separate statement emphasized that the drills were organized and agreed to significantly before last weekend's US strikes on Venezuela.
But tensions have ratcheted particularly after Washington expelled South Africa's ambassador last year and slapped the country with 30% trade tariffs. The Trump administration has also long complained about violent persecution against South Africa's minority White farmer population.
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