Iran has been under intensified scrutiny over its response to protests. (Screenshot: Al Jazeera)
South Africa has urged restraint and dialogue in Iran as reports of unrest and loss of life mount, framing its response in the language of universal rights even as questions grow at home over its handling of Iran’s presence in a high-profile naval exercise off the Cape coast.
In a statement issued on Thursday, the presidency said the government was following developments in Iran with concern and called on all parties to exercise maximum restraint.
It reaffirmed the rights to peaceful protest, freedom of expression and freedom of association as universal human rights and said sustainable peace and stability could only be achieved through solutions that centred on the agency of the Iranian people.
The statement lands in a combustible international context. Iran has been under intensified scrutiny over its response to protests, while South Africa this week has been hosting a multinational naval exercise in False Bay involving vessels from China, Russia and Iran, under what officials have described as a framework linked to the Brics grouping.
Government figures have defended the drills as routine naval cooperation focused on maritime safety and interoperability, but the optics of joint manoeuvres with Tehran and Moscow have drawn domestic political criticism and sharpened international attention.
That scrutiny has been amplified by uncertainty over whether Iran ultimately participated in the sea phase of the exercise.
According to government sources familiar with the discussions, President Cyril Ramaphosa instructed defence minister Angie Motshekga last week to ask Iran to withdraw from participation and assume observer status, amid concern about the diplomatic consequences of hosting Iranian warships while Tehran faces heightened international condemnation.
That attempt to limit Iran’s visibility was then complicated by a South African National Defence Force social media post on Tuesday listing the Iranian corvette IRIS Naghdi among the vessels that had departed Simon’s Town for the sea phase, alongside ships from South Africa, China, Russia and the United Arab Emirates.
The post was later deleted. It also contained internal inconsistencies, including discrepancies in the number of vessels listed, which further muddied the picture.
Whether the episode reflects a breakdown in communication, an administrative error or a deeper failure to align political instruction with operational messaging remains unclear. What is clear is that the contradictory signals have exposed strains in the state’s ability to manage a sensitive foreign-policy issue in real time.
The result is a dissonant picture. Pretoria is projecting a principled position on restraint and rights in Iran while grappling domestically with questions about coherence across the presidency, defence and diplomatic channels. In the short term, the damage is less about the choreography of a naval drill than about credibility, clarity and command in matters with international consequences.
South Africa’s Iran statement is careful not to stray into coercive diplomacy. It does not call for sanctions or external intervention, instead emphasising dialogue and internally driven political resolution.
That posture is consistent with Pretoria’s long-standing foreign-policy preferences, but it is now being tested against events closer to home, where the government is being forced to explain how political intent translates into action when the stakes are diplomatic and the scrutiny immediate.