NNA - Warships from Iran, China and Russia kicked off their annual joint exercises in the Gulf of Oman on Monday, showing off their military ties as US President Donald Trump upends longstanding Western alliances.
The “Security Belt-2025” drills, taking place near the Iranian port of Chabahar, is the fifth joint naval exercise Iran, China and Russia have held since 2019, according to Chinese state media.
Analysts have long seen the drills as a demonstration of the growing partnership among the three authoritarian powers as they seek to counterbalance US influence and challenge the Western-led global order.
But this year, the optics are even more pronounced as Trump disrupts the transatlantic alliance – a cornerstone of Western security for decades – by embracing Russia at the expense of Ukraine, and pushes Asian allies to pay more for US protection.
Asked about the drills on Sunday, Trump said he is “not at all” concerned about the show of force by the three US adversaries.
“We’re stronger than all of them. We have more power than all of them,” he told Fox News aboard Air Force One.
Concerns have been mounting in Washington about the emerging strategic partnershipamong China, Russia, Iran and North Korea, which US lawmakers have described as an “axis of authoritarianism,” “axis of autocrats” and “axis of dictators.”
The fear is that a shared animosity toward the US is increasingly driving these countries to work together – amplifying the threat that any one of them alone poses to Washington or its allies, not just in one region but perhaps in multiple parts of the world at the same time.
At the same time, Trump has openly embraced Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in a bid to end the war in Ukraine by talking directly to Moscow while leaving Kyiv and European allies on the sidelines.
Russia and North Korea’s military relationship has strengthened considerably over the last year, with the two signing a mutual defense agreement and Pyongyang sending its troopsto fight for Moscow in its invasion of Ukraine.
The drills also come amid heightened tension between US and Iran.--agencies
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