South Africa hosts Brics naval exercise, risks renewed US ire

Warships from some members of the Brics group of developing nations gathered in Cape Town waters for a naval exercise that places host South Africa at risk of renewed US ire.

China will lead the Will for Peace 2026 drill, which runs from January 9 to January 16 and will showcase the participants’ collective commitment to safeguard maritime trade routes and deepen cooperation in support of peaceful maritime security, the South African National Defence Force said in a statement. It didn’t specify which other countries will be participating, with a media conference scheduled for Friday.

A Chinese destroyer docked in the Simon’s Town naval base on Wednesday, while pictures on social media this week showed a Russian frigate and a supply vessel making their way down Africa’s west coast toward the harbour. The Johannesburg-based Rapport newspaper last month cited an Iranian admiral as saying the Islamic Republic had dispatched a fleet to take part in the exercise, but its vessels haven’t been sighted.

South Africa has been at loggerheads with the US since President Donald Trump returned to the White House almost a year ago. Its ties to Iran are among the issues that have elicited anger in Washington, and the drill is likely to ignite further tension.

Pretoria drew criticism from the US and the European Union when it last hosted a Brics naval exercise in 2023 that coincided with the one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The Democratic Alliance, South Africa’s second-biggest political party, said the inclusion of Russia and Iran in the drill would undermine the government’s claims that it was non-aligned, and noted that it had canceled joint military exercises with the US.

“South Africa’s defence and foreign policy must be transparent, constitutional, and principled, and certainly not be quietly reshaped through military exercises that contradict our stated neutrality and damage our standing in the world,” said Chris Hattingh, the DA’s spokesperson on defense.

Chrispin Phiri, a spokesman for South Africa’s foreign ministry, declined to comment and referred queries to the defense force.

© 2026 Bloomberg

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