The naval forces of China, Iran and Russia hold a fleet review during the sea phase of the Security Belt-2024 joint exercise held near the Gulf of Oman from March 12 to 13, 2024. Photo: Screenshot from the WeChat account of the PLA Navy

The five-day China-Iran-Russia joint naval exercise Security Belt-2024 on Wednesday wrapped up its sea phase. The core part of the drill saw warships from the three countries conducting training to rescue civilian ships, which reflected the peaceful nature of the trilateral cooperation, experts said on Thursday.

Held near the Gulf of Oman from Tuesday to Wednesday, the sea phase of the joint exercise featured training courses including live-fire shooting at maritime targets and armed rescue on hijacked commercial ships, the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy said in a press release on Thursday.

On Tuesday, the three countries' warships took turns and fired at mock targets at sea during both day and night, and practiced light signal communications, the PLA Navy said, attaching a photo showing a Chinese special force member firing a machine gun on board of a warship.

On Wednesday, the three countries mixed their vessels into two task forces and conducted a rescue operation for two Iranian ships playing the roles of commercial ships.

Under the command of the PLA Navy destroyer Urumqi, the task force one consisted of six warships from the Chinese and Iranian sides quickly maneuvered to advantageous positions, conducted reconnaissance on a mock commercial ship hijacked by pirates, and sent small boats to approach the vessel.

Special force members then boarded the ship, neutralized the mock hostile forces, controlled the vessel and rescued the mock hostages.

The exercise also practiced extinguishing fire broke out on the mock commercial ships, another photo released by the PLA Navy shows.

With the participating warships' return to the Chabahar Port in Iran on Wednesday local time, the sea phase of the Security Belt-2024 joint exercise successfully completed, the PLA Navy said.

The joint exercise, kicked off on Monday and will run until Friday, is organized in three phases, namely the harbor phase, the sea phase and the summarize phase, China Central Television (CCTV) reported on Tuesday after the launch of the drills.

The sea phase is usually the core part of a naval exercise that features actual force deployment, while the harbor phase and the summarize phase often include organizing and tactical discussions as well as exchanges that boost participants' mutual understanding and friendship, a Chinese military expert who observed several other joint naval drills told the Global Times on Thursday, requesting anonymity.

Highlighted by the rescue of hijacked commercial ships near the Gulf of Oman, an important international sea lane featuring the transport of key energy and goods, the exercise showed that the trilateral military cooperation focuses on the safeguard of the maritime security in the region in terms of non-traditional security threats, rather than dealing with traditional security threats or stressing bloc confrontation or geopolitics, the expert said.

Zhang Junshe, another Chinese military expert, told the Global Times that the China-Iran-Russia joint exercises, which have been held for four editions since 2019, all focused on non-traditional security threats, and they did not target any third country, nor were they related to regional situations.

The exercise area near the Gulf of Oman, located in the northern part of the Arabian Sea, is connected with the Persian Gulf with the Strait of Hormuz, giving it strategic significance in terms of international shipping, experts said, noting that the trilateral exercise is conducive to the safeguard of the international sea lane as well as maritime security in the region.