Iran, China and Russia show naval might in Gulf of Oman drills

Iran, Russia and China launched their annual Middle East naval exercises, dubbed Security Belt-2025, in the Gulf of Oman on Tuesday.

Iran, represented by its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a paramilitary force with its own navy, reportedly deployed fast attack ships that it claims have stealth capabilities.

The Martyr Sayad Shirazi and the Martyr Nazeri patrol ships are fast catamarans with a low profile in the water to help evade detection and the hull shaped to minimise radar signature. With a reported range of up to 10,000km and equipped with Sayad cruise missiles which have a claimed range of 700km, these ships pose fast-moving, long-range threats to enemy vessels.

According to Iran’s state-linked Tasnim news, the ships can also carry a light attack helicopter. Tasnim said the exercise, near the port of Chabahar, would “ensure the security of international maritime trade, combat piracy and terrorism, exchange information on maritime rescue and relief operations, and share the operational and tactical experiences”.

China’s 47th escort task force, with a range of frigates and support ships, took part in the drills, which were observed by military representatives from the UAE, Iraq and Oman.

China’s rapidly expanding navy has increasingly ventured into Middle Eastern waters since 2008, taking part in counter-piracy missions and joint exercises with regional powers. According to a US Department of Defence report in December, the Chinese navy has sent 40 naval escort task forces to the Gulf of Aden in the past 17 years, giving their sailors “important experience in overseas operations”.

China has the world’s largest navy in terms of the number of surface ships and submarines, with around 370 platforms, according to Pentagon figures from 2024. The US Navy has nearly 300 warships and submarines, but is bigger by tonnage.

This could change by 2030, when China plans to field 435 naval vessels. The build-up has sparked consternation in Washington as well as an ambitious US plan to expand its navy to about 380 manned ships and 134 unmanned surface and underwater vessels by 2045.

China has three aircraft carriers – a potent symbol of overseas power projection – and is building a fourth, the Type 004, which experts say will be the largest in the world.

The US operates 11 nuclear-powered carriers, 10 of them ageing Nimitz carriers which it is struggling to phase out due to delays in the construction of the Gerard R Ford-class aircraft carriers. The first Ford-class carrier, built at a cost of around $13 billion, entered service in 2017.

Russia, too, remains a formidable naval power with around 207 surface warships and an estimated 58 submarines, according to the World Directory of Military Warships. Russia sent two corvette warships and a refuelling tanker to the drills, The Moscow Times reported.

Asked what he thought of the joint exercise, US President Donald Trump simply said: “We’re stronger than all of them.”