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South Africa’s defence minister has ordered an inquiry into reports of Iran’s participation in navy exercises, apparently against the instructions of the president, the ministry said Friday.The probe comes after the United States sharply criticised the past week’s drills, which brought vessels from China, Iran, Russia and the United Arab Emirates to waters off Cape Town.Local media reported President Cyril Ramaphosa had instructed the defence minister to withdraw the three Iranian warships from the drills, which came amid the Iranian government’s deadly crackdown on protesters.It was unclear to what extent Iran took part, but images emerged of at least one Iranian vessel at sea.A defence ministry statement on social media on Tuesday listed an Iranian corvette as among the participants, but the post was later removed.Defence Minister Angie Motshekga had “clearly communicated” the president’s instruction, the defence ministry said in a statement that did not make clear the president’s order, which was also not confirmed by his office.A board of inquiry would investigate “whether the instruction of the president may have been misrepresented and/or ignored”, it said.The defence force said the China-led exercises of nations in the BRICS alliance were to “ensure the safety of shipping lanes and maritime economic activities”.The US embassy on Thursday criticised Iran’s presence as “particularly unconscionable” given the protest crackdown, which independent monitors say left thousands dead.The exercises involved nations with major diplomatic differences with the United States, at a time when Pretoria is seeking to improve its battered ties with Washington.US President Donald Trump’s administration has accused South Africa of anti-American policies and boycotted a G20 summit it hosted in November, also imposing 30-percent trade tariffs.In August, Ramaphosa’s office rebuked the defence force for allowing the country’s top general to visit Iran, where he reportedly called for cooperation in defence matters.The visit was unhelpful as South Africa managed “a very delicate exercise of resetting diplomatic relations with the United States”, a spokesman said.

Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa will hold talks with Chancellor Friedrich Merz in Berlin Tuesday as Germany seeks to step up deportations of Syrians, despite unease about continued instability in their homeland.On his first visit to Germany since ousting Syria’s longtime leader Bashar al-Assad, Sharaa is also set to meet President Frank-Walter Steinmeier. The former Islamist rebel chief has made frequent overseas trips as he undergoes a rapid reinvention, including to the United States and France, and a series of international sanctions on Syria have been lifted. The focus of next week’s visit for the German government will be on stepping up repatriations of Syrians, a priority for Merz’s conservative-led coalition since Assad was toppled. Roughly one million Syrians fled to Germany in recent years, many of them arriving in 2015-16 to escape the civil war.A German government spokesman said Berlin had an “interest in deepening and finding a new start with the new Syrian government”. Among topics on the agenda will be “the return of Syrians to their home country,” he confirmed.Merz, who fears being outflanked by the far-right AfD party on immigration, has previously insisted that there is “no longer any reason” for Syrians who fled the war to seek asylum in Germany.In December, Germany carried out its first deportation of a Syrian since the civil war erupted in 2011, flying a man convicted of crimes to Damascus.But rights groups have criticised such efforts, citing continued instability in Syria and evidence of rights abuses.- ‘Dramatic situation’ -Violence between the government and minority groups has repeatedly flared in multi-confessional Syria since Sharaa came to power, including recent clashes between the army and Kurdish forces. Several NGOs, including those representing the Kurdish and Alawite Syrian communities in Germany, have urged Berlin to axe Sharaa’s planned visit, labelling it “totally unacceptable”. “The situation in Syria is dramatic. Civilians are being persecuted solely on the basis of their ethnic or religious affiliation,” they said in a joint statement.”It is incomprehensible to us and legally and morally unacceptable that the German government knowingly intends to receive a person suspected of being responsible for these acts at the chancellery.”The Kurdish Community of Germany, among the signatories of that statement, also filed a complaint with German prosecutors in November, accusing Sharaa of war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity.But the German foreign ministry insisted treatment of minorities in Syria was “very important” for Berlin.”I would like to reject the suggestion that we are not addressing this issue,” a ministry spokesman told a press conference in Berlin. “It is one of the central topics we are discussing with the Syrian government.”Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul, who has been among those voicing caution with regard to deportations, will also meet his Syrian counterpart in Berlin next week. On a trip to Damascus in October, Wadephul said that the potential for Syrians to return was “very limited” since the war had destroyed much of Syria’s infrastructure — triggering a backlash in his own centre-right party.Armin Laschet, a former chancellor candidate for Merz’s CDU party, told AFP in an interview that Sharaa should “clearly hear Europe’s expectations” on the protection of minorities during the visit. But Laschet, currently an MP and chairman of parliament’s foreign affairs committee, supported the decision to host Sharaa at the chancellery.”Dialogue is necessary, especially against the backdrop of recent fighting,” he said. “Sharaa faces an extraordinarily demanding task.”