Pretoria protests Iran's alleged participation in joint drills with China in South African waters

South Africa raised concerns with China over Iran’s participation in recent Chinese-led naval exercises in South African waters, President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Wednesday.

“The naval exercises were led by China, and we were just the host waters,” he told reporters.

Ramaphosa said China was responsible for organising the exercises and inviting participants, and Pretoria raised with Beijing “the issue of Iran and said that it would be best that they should withdraw and not participate.”

He said South Africa launched a board of inquiry to review the exercises after extensive consultations revealed the need for more information on what occurred and how to respond.

US‑Iran tensions

“It is a matter that everyone in defence and in government is seized with at the moment,” he noted.

He said the government prefers to carefully examine “every aspect of everything before just blurting out and saying whatever people want to hear on the gallery.”

The naval drills came amid heightened US‑Iran tensions and international concern over widespread protests in Iran.

Last week, Washington criticised Pretoria for allowing Iranian military forces to participate in exercises, expressing concern that the move undermines regional security.

Earlier, South Africa’s Defence Ministry said it had clearly communicated Ramaphosa’s instructions regarding Iran’s participation in the exercises and had established a board of inquiry to examine whether those directives were misrepresented or ignored.