Russia's Pacific Fleet Information Service recently said that Russia, Iran and China will hold joint maritime exercises in the near future. In December 2019, China, Russia and Iran held the first four-day joint maritime exercise in the Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Oman, the first time Iran has held a joint maritime exercise with a foreign navy since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. However, the scale of the last trilateral exercise was relatively small, and Russian Admiral Krachenko said that the Russian military will send "first-class warships" to participate in the exercise.
(The Iranian Navy has a large number of ships, but most of them are smaller ships.)
According to the Russian Interfax News Agency, on January 17, a fleet of the Russian Pacific Fleet had berthed at the docks of the Iranian port of Chabahar to replenish food, water and fuel. According to the report, the Russian fleet includes: the guided-missile cruiser "Varyag", the large anti-submarine ship "Admiral Tributs" and the large sea tanker "Boris Bhutma". Among them, the Guided-Missile Cruiser Varyag is the third ship of the Glory class, which is the flagship of the Current Russian Navy's Pacific Fleet and the most effective surface ship in the Pacific Fleet; Admiral Tributs is a Type 1155 anti-submarine ship (that is, a Dreadnought-class destroyer), the most advanced large anti-submarine ship developed before the collapse of the Soviet Union, and one of the capital ships of the current Pacific Fleet. In response, Admiral Krachenko said: "They are not new, but they have enough strength to be first-class battleships. We are raising the level of our warships. ”
(2019, China-Russia-Iran Trilateral Naval Joint Exercise)
The large-scale joint maritime exercises held by the navies of China, Russia and Iraq in the waters of the Persian Gulf, the Gulf of Oman and the Indian Ocean have profound military and political significance. First of all, the Persian Gulf is the world's largest oil producer, and the main members of OPEC are the countries bordering the Persian Gulf, so the Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf is called the "oil valve of the world". And oil is called "industrial blood", modern industry is almost built on the petroleum industry, without oil, modern industry is difficult to move.
(The sea between Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates is the Persian Gulf, out of the Strait of Hormuz is the Gulf of Oman, and further south is the Arabian Sea and indian Ocean)
(The world's oil valve - strait of Hormuz!) A husband and wife)
How important is oil in the Persian Gulf? To tell a real story: as early as 1987 during the Cold War, the Iran-Iraq War was in full swing, and because Iran had used mines to block the Strait of Hormuz to prevent Iraq from exporting oil to the outside world, the United States and the Soviet Union, two major powers that were strategic rivals to each other, united for the first time to jointly organize fleets to clear mines in the Strait of Hormuz to ensure the safety of the oil route! The ability to force two superpowers to act together shows how important oil in the Persian Gulf is!
(2021 Sino-Russian Naval Joint Exercise)
Today, China, Russia and Iran are holding joint naval exercises in this sensitive water for several reasons:
First of all, China, Russia and Iran have the demand to maintain the security of the waters of the Persian Gulf and the Arabian Sea, because Iran is one of the major oil producers in the Middle East, while China is one of the main buyers of oil in the Middle East, and Iran is an important customer of Russia. At the same time, Russia and Iran are only separated by the Caspian Sea, so peace and security in the Persian Gulf region are very important to china, Russia and Iran. The trilateral joint naval exercise can demonstrate the determination and ability of the three countries to jointly maintain regional peace.
(Iran is of great strategic importance for stabilizing Central Asia and the southern hinterland of Russia.)
Secondly, the situation in Eurasia as a whole is not stable at present, and Russia has just recently helped Kazakhstan to quell civil unrest. As a result, Russia also believes that russia's national security still needs to be improved. Unfolding the map, it is not difficult to find that through Iran, it is possible to intervene directly in Central Asia from the Persian Gulf. So if Iran can serve as a bridgehead, it can largely curb the infiltration of the Western world, especially the United States, into Central Asia. Iran itself, which has been blocked and sanctioned by the West for decades, is in dire need of Russian support. In this regard, Kravchenko pointed out that "it is a good thing to deepen our contacts with countries that are in the same direction as us." The exercise could be a reaction to a complex international environment. ”
(The royal photographer is still very dedicated, that is, the section where the J-15 flew over the light aircraft carrier Izumo was later deleted))
For the Platon, "going out" is also one of the important means to deal with the current strategic containment of the US military. We have seen that with the rise of China, the United States has openly treated the mainland as its number one strategic opponent, so the United States not only has gathered more than 60% of its naval strength and a large number of air forces in the western Pacific region, but also actively attracted NATO countries to come to the western Pacific to "stand" for itself. In the past 2021, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, the Netherlands and other NATO countries have sent warships to the western Pacific to cheer for the US military, and Japan, Australia and other countries have also actively cooperated with the ACTIONS of the US military.
(Chinese naval formation near Alaska, U.S. Coast Guard "Birsov" tracking surveillance)
There is an old Chinese saying: "Come and go without being rude!" "The U.S. Navy is so hard performing at The doorstep of China, and if we want to resist U.S. containment and safeguard our own national interests, we must not only defend ourselves, but also need to "go out and walk" more and look at the vast world outside. So we see that in 2021, the Chinese naval formation will approach alaska for the first time in the strategic location of the United States, and the United States will have to send coast guard ships to monitor the PLA fleet all the way; in 2021, the Chinese Navy will also send a formation to Peter the Great Bay to hold large-scale maritime exercises with the Russian Navy, and the Chinese and Russian joint naval formations will also carry out voyages around Japan for the first time; at the end of 2021, the Chinese Navy will also dispatch two aircraft carrier battle groups at the same time to conduct ocean voyage training in the South China Sea and the Philippine Sea. In addition, the Chinese Navy's carrier-based fighters achieved the first flight over the Japanese aircraft carrier (Izumo), demonstrating the combat effectiveness of the Chinese naval aviation.
(Aircraft carriers are not "otaku"!) China's aircraft carrier battle group should also "go out")
Now that 2022 has begun, the Chinese navy also needs to continue to insist on "going out and walking", going to those seas where China's vital interests are concerned, showing China's existence, and safeguarding our own legitimate rights and interests. We must also let the United States know that the world is not the world of the United States, and China has the strength to protect its own national interests. Sailing to the Persian Gulf and participating in the trilateral joint military exercise will be a new starting point for the Chinese Navy to "go global" in 2022!