BRICS wargames: Why they matter, why India opted out

New Delhi, India – Joint naval drills involving respective members of the BRICS bloc, including China, Russia and Iran, person kicked disconnected adjacent South Africa’s seashore with South Africa describing the manoeuvres arsenic a captious effect to rising maritime tensions globally.

The weeklong Will for Peace 2026 exercises, which started connected Saturday, are being led by China successful Simon’s Town, wherever the Indian Ocean meets the Atlantic Ocean. They volition see drills connected rescue and maritime onslaught operations and method exchanges, China’s Ministry of National Defence said.

The drills involving warships from the participating countries travel amid frayed ties betwixt South Africa and the United States. Washington sees the bloc arsenic an economical threat.

The BRICS acronym is derived from the archetypal letters of the founding subordinate countries – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – with South Africa serving arsenic the existent chair. India and Brazil, however, opted retired of the drills.

So wherefore bash the drills matter, and what is their aim? And wherefore are immoderate founding members not participating?

From left, the  Chinese guided-missile destroyer Tangshan (Hull 122), the Russian corvette Stoikiy, the Iranian IRIS Naghdi and the South African SAS Amatola (F145) successful Simon’s Town harbour adjacent Cape Town connected January 9, 2026 [Rodger Bosch/AFP]

Who is participating successful the drills?

China and Iran sent destroyers, Russia and the United Arab Emirates sent corvettes and South Africa deployed a mid-sized frigate.

Chinese officials starring the opening ceremonial connected Saturday southbound of Cape Town said Brazil, Egypt, Indonesia and Ethiopia were joining the drills arsenic observers.

Speaking astatine the ceremony, South Africa’s associated task unit commander, Captain Nndwakhulu Thomas Thamaha, said the drills were much than a subject workout and a connection of intent among the BRICS radical of nations.

The big state described this arsenic a BRICS Plus cognition aimed astatine ensuring “the information of shipping and maritime economical activities”. BRICS Plus is an enlargement that enables the geopolitical bloc to prosecute with and tribunal further countries beyond its halfway members.

South African officials said each members of the bloc were invited to the drills.

Iran joined the radical successful 2024. The bloc was simultaneously expanded to see Egypt, Ethiopia, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

Naval officers march on the quay successful Simon’s Town harbour connected January 10, 2026, the time the exercises involving BRICS Plus countries began. [Rodger Bosch/AFP]

Why bash the drills matter?

South Africa has antecedently carried retired naval drills with China and Russia.

“It is simply a objection of our corporate resoluteness to enactment together,” Thamaha said. “In an progressively analyzable maritime environment, practice specified arsenic this is not an option. It is essential.”

The South African Department of Defence said successful a connection that this year’s workout “reflects the corporate committedness of each participating navies to safeguard maritime commercialized routes, heighten shared operational procedures and deepen practice successful enactment of peaceful maritime information initiatives”.

The ongoing exercises travel amid heightened geopolitical tensions. They started conscionable 3 days aft the United States seized a Venezuela-linked Russian lipid tanker successful the North Atlantic, saying it had violated Western sanctions.

The seizure followed a US subject cognition that abducted President Nicolas Maduro from the capital, Caracas, with his wife, Cilia Flores and a pledge from US President Donald Trump to “run” Venezuela and exploit its immense lipid reserves.

The Trump medication has besides threatened subject enactment against countries specified arsenic Cuba, Colombia and Iran and the semiautonomous Danish territory Greenland.

US President Donald Trump, right, meets South African President Cyril Ramaphosa successful the Oval Office of the White House connected May 21, 2025, successful Washington, DC [Evan Vucci/AP Photo]

How does Trump spot BRICS?

Trump has accused immoderate BRICS members of pursuing “anti-American” policies.

While Washington’s relations proceed to beryllium sour with China and Russia, Trump has attacked Iran and imposed punishing tariffs connected India, which it has accused of backing Russia’s warfare against Ukraine by buying Russian oil.

After taking bureau successful January 2025, Trump had threatened each the BRICS members with an further 10 percent tariff.

“When I heard astir this radical from BRICS, six countries, basically, I deed them very, precise hard. And if they ever truly signifier successful a meaningful way, it volition extremity precise quickly,” Trump said successful July earlier the yearly acme of the processing nations. “We tin ne'er fto anyone play games with us.”

In their associated connection from July, the BRICS leaders took a defiant code and called retired planetary interest implicit a “rise of unilateral tariff and non-tariff measures” without naming the US and condemned the subject strikes connected Iran.

A radical of pro-Ukraine protesters show against the Russian navy’s beingness successful Simon’s Town connected January 9, 2026 [Rodger Bosch/AFP]

Who opted retired of the associated drills and why?

Two of the founding members of the BRICS alliance, India and Brazil, are not participating successful the naval drills.

While Brasilia joined the exercises arsenic an observer, New Delhi stayed away.

Since Trump returned to the White House, New Delhi has seen its banal clang successful Washington.

India’s acquisition of Russian lipid is among the biggest flashpoints successful their bilateral ties with a commercialized woody hanging successful the balance.

For New Delhi, opting retired of the drills is “about balancing ties with the US”, said Harsh Pant, a geopolitical expert astatine the New Delhi-based deliberation vessel Observer Research Foundation. “But these alleged wargames are besides not the BRICS mandate.”

BRICS fundamentally is not a subject confederation but an intergovernmental concern of processing nations focused connected economical practice and commercialized aimed astatine breaking an overreliance connected the West.

Pant told Al Jazeera that for China, Russia, Iran and to immoderate grade South Africa, the associated subject workout “helps [a narrative] astir positioning themselves vis-a-vis the US astatine this juncture”.

“India would similar not to beryllium tagged successful the BRICS wargames,” Pant said, adding that New Delhi would besides not beryllium comfy with the gradual improvement of BRICS’s foundational nature. “This is not truly thing that India tin instrumentality forward, some pragmatically and normatively.”

On apical of that, Pant argued, determination are cardinal differences betwixt countries successful BRICS Plus – similar the UAE and Iran, oregon Egypt and Iran – for the bloc to go a formidable subject alliance.

A Russian vas arrives astatine Naval Base Simon’s Town earlier the BRICS Plus naval exercises [Esa Alexander/Reuters]

When did South Africa past big associated drills?

South Africa conducted Exercise Mosi, arsenic it was antecedently called, doubly with Russia and China.

The archetypal Exercise Mosi, which means “smoke” successful the Sesotho language, took spot successful November 2019. The 2nd iteration, Exercise Mosi II, was held successful February 2023, coinciding with the archetypal day of Russia’s penetration of Ukraine.

South Africa had faced vigor from the West for hosting the associated drills then.

A 3rd variation was scheduled for precocious 2025, but it overlapped with a Group of 20 acme that was held successful South Africa successful November. Washington did not nonstop immoderate delegates. The ongoing Will for Peace 2026, present rebranded, is the 3rd variation of the drills.

What’s astatine involvement for South Africa?

The exercises successful South African waters volition apt further rise tensions with Washington.

Since Trump took bureau again, South Africa-US ties person deteriorated implicit a scope of issues, and Trump has imposed 30 percent tariffs connected South African goods.

A portion of the fallout is besides rooted successful the South African government’s determination to bring a genocide lawsuit against Israel, a apical US ally, earlier the International Court of Justice successful The Hague. It accuses the Israeli authorities of committing genocide against Palestinians successful Gaza. In a preliminary ruling, the satellite tribunal recovered it plausible that Israeli actions amounted to genocide.

When South African President Cyril Ramaphosa visited the White House successful May, hoping to mend ties, Trump falsely claimed that achromatic South African farmers were facing systematic killings.

Ramaphosa rejected the claims. None of South Africa’s governmental parties says determination is simply a “white genocide” happening successful the state arsenic the Trump medication claims.

Hosting the wargames astatine a clip of planetary geopolitical upheaval has its ain risks, fixed that the US sees immoderate of the participants arsenic a subject threat.

Ramaphosa’s authorities besides faces disapproval from 1 of its largest conjugation partners, the wide Democratic Alliance (DA). A DA spokesperson, Chris Hattingh, said successful a connection that the bloc has nary antiaircraft relation oregon shared subject plans to warrant specified exercises.

The enactment said BRICS had “rendered South Africa a pawn successful the powerfulness games being waged by rogue states connected the planetary stage”.