Iran–Russia Joint Naval Drills Begin in Sea of Oman and Northern Indian Ocean

By Staff, Agencies

Joint naval exercises between Iran and Russia commenced Thursday in the Sea of Oman and the northern Indian Ocean, with participating warships deploying to designated missions and coordinating operational activities at sea.

Captain Hassan Maqsoudlou, spokesperson for the joint drills, confirmed that naval vessels had embarked on their assignments a day earlier.

He stated that following the deployment of units across the Sea of Oman and the northern Indian Ocean, information was exchanged between operations rooms aboard the participating warships.

Maqsoudlou noted that special operations units from the Iranian Navy and the naval forces of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), alongside their Russian counterparts, conducted a series of coordinated exercises and successfully achieved the objectives set for the maneuvers.

He added that the Iranian Navy carries out numerous routine programs within the framework of defense diplomacy, emphasizing that the current drills fall within annual plans agreed upon between Tehran and Moscow.

According to Iranian state television, the joint exercise included a simulated operation to free a hijacked vessel as part of the broader combined naval maneuver between the two countries.

Special operations teams from the Iranian Navy and the IRGC Navy, together with Russian naval units, participated in the drill, which featured both naval and aerial components.

The Iranian destroyer Alvand, serving as the command ship of the exercise, directed combat vessels toward the operation site to execute the liberation mission.

In the concluding stage, special operations forces from the Iranian Army and the IRGC, in coordination with Russian naval special units, carried out a combined air and surface intervention. The teams successfully took control of the vessel, detained the simulated pirates, and completed the operation.