China will hold a meeting on Friday in Beijing with Russia and Iran on the Iranian "nuclear issue", its foreign ministry said, with both nations sending their deputy foreign ministers.

The exercises, named Maritime Security Belt 2025, were held near the strategic Strait of Hormuz, a key global shipping route through which a fifth of the world’s traded crude oil passes.

China, Iran and Russia conducted joint naval drills Tuesday in the Middle East, offering a show of force in a region still uneasy over Tehran's rapidly expanding nuclear program and as Yemen's Houthi rebels threaten new attacks on ships.