Cape Town – Naval forces from China Russia and Iran began a week long maritime exercise in South African waters on Saturday as part of a BRICS Plus operation aimed at safeguarding shipping lanes and maritime economic activity.
The drills taking place off the South African coast were announced by the host country as Exercise Will for Peace 2026 bringing together navies from the expanded BRICS grouping. The exercise is being led by South Africa’s defence forces with participation from China Russia and Iran while Brazil Egypt and Ethiopia are attending as observers.
BRICS Plus is an expanded version of the original bloc made up of Brazil Russia India China and South Africa and now includes Egypt Indonesia Saudi Arabia Ethiopia and the United Arab Emirates. Members view the grouping as an alternative platform to Western dominated economic and political structures.
South African military officials said all BRICS Plus members were invited to take part. Lieutenant Colonel Mpho Mathebula acting spokesperson for joint operations said the focus of the exercise was on maritime safety cooperation interoperability and information sharing between participating navies.
The naval drills come at a time of rising geopolitical tension between the United States under President Donald Trump and several BRICS Plus countries including China Iran South Africa and Brazil. Trump has previously accused the bloc of pursuing anti American policies and last year threatened a ten percent trade tariff on BRICS members in addition to other global duties.
Within South Africa the exercises have drawn criticism from the Democratic Alliance the second largest party in President Cyril Ramaphosa’s coalition government. The party said the drills conflicted with South Africa’s stated position of neutrality and risked placing the country at the centre of global power struggles.
Mathebula dismissed the criticism saying the exercise was not political in nature and carried no hostility towards the United States. She noted that South Africa also conducts naval exercises with the US Navy from time to time and said the purpose of the current drills was purely operational.
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