Written by: Dr. Peter Hammond

Iranian & Red Chinese Naval forces in False Bay & Simonstown

“Those who go down to the sea in ships, who do business on great waters…” Psalm 107:23

Despite South Africa’s official position of being neutral and “non aligned”, Naval vessels from several BRICS nations have arrived in the coastal waters near Cape Town. Warships forming part of the BRICS+ maritime exercise reportedly include: the United Arab Emirates corvette, Bani Yas, Russian corvette, Stoikiy, equipped with an anti-submarine helicopter, and the oil tanker Yelnya,  the Iranian corvette, Naghi , supported by the resupply vessel, Shahid Mahdavi and Chinese guided-missile destroyer, Tangshan with the replenishment ship Taihu. Other participants such as the Ethiopian, Egyptian and Indonesian navies are serving as observers during the course of these Naval drills. The South African frigate, SAS Amatola is participating  with the visiting warships in the naval exercises which are  named “Will for Peace 2026,” the Drills are  scheduled  to run from 9 to 16 January. Brazil and India have been conspicuously absent from these joint naval drills.

Strategic Maritime Choke Point
The British Royal Navy famously declared: that Simonstown is the most strategic Naval base in the Southern Hemisphere as it dominates the strategic maritime choke point between the Atlantic Ocean and the Indian Ocean. https://www.thecommonsense.co.za/Columns/global-sea-trade-pivots-to-simonstown-as-cape-chokepoint-rises

Oceans of Opportunity
As our Mission is based in the busy port city of Cape Town, at what William Carey called, “the uttermost parts of the earth,” astride the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, we often find the mission fields come to us. Back in 1995, we had over 80 warships from many countries of the world gather for the 75th anniversary of the founding of the South African Navy. On that occasion, we were involved in open-air hymn services, Bible distribution, and personal evangelism with sailors as far afield as China, Pakistan, India, Chile, United States, Great Britain and Saudi Arabia. On this occasion we have made available Bibles in Arabic, Farsi (The Persian language) and in Russian and Chinese for evangelists working amongst the foreign sailors on shore leave. Having naval personnel from Restricted Access Areas and even from some closed countries visit our shores provides a rare opportunity for strategic evangelism.

“Look also at ships: although they are so large and are driven by fierce winds, they are turned by a very small rudder wherever the pilot desires.” James 3:4

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Date published: 17/01/2026
Feature image provided by Frontline Mission SA

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