The Department of Defence has confirmed that Exercise Will for Peace 2026, including Iran’s participation, took place exactly as President Cyril Ramaphosa instructed.

In a media statement issued on Friday, the ministry said it was responding to “a series of reports containing serious allegations concerning the president’s clear instruction on how Exercise Will for Peace 2026 should be conducted, in particular the participation of the Islamic Republic of Iran.”

The statement then addresses the central question directly. According to the department, “The instruction was clearly communicated to all parties concerned, agreed upon and to be implemented and adhered to as such.” That wording amounts to an explicit confirmation that the exercise unfolded in line with presidential direction.

Exercise Will forPeace 2026 was a multinational naval exercise hosted by South Africa and involving several foreign partners. Iran’s participation attracted particular attention given Tehran’s international isolation and South Africa’s repeated insistence that it pursues a non-aligned foreign policy.

Before the defence ministry issued its statement, confusion was introduced into the public domain by media reports claiming that Ramaphosa had allegedly ordered Iran’s participation to be halted. Those reports relied on anonymous government sources and suggested that the exercise had either continued without presidential approval or in defiance of it.

That version of events was challenged by The Common Sense, which reported that the claims did not match observable reality and that Iran remained visibly involved in the exercise.

The competing narratives did not remain a domestic issue. As reports circulated suggesting internal disagreement or defiance within the South African state, the United States (US) publicly criticised South Africa’s conduct around the naval drills. The US response treated Iran’s participation as a deliberate political signal rather than an administrative error, increasing diplomatic pressure on Pretoria.

The defence ministry’s statement now directly contradicts the anonymous-source narrative that preceded the US reaction. While announcing the establishment of a board of inquiry, the ministry framed its purpose narrowly, saying it would examine whether the president’s instruction “may have been misrepresented and or ignored as issued to all”, rather than questioning the instruction itself.

The statement further rejects the idea of institutional breakdown or rogue decision-making. It says that “all government entities in this event have been working very closely, in consultation with each other at every step”.