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The Chinese frigate Changchun during a visit last month to Bandar Abbas in Iran. (Fars)

Last month, visitors to Bandar Abbas on Irans southern coast gathered towitness a never-seen-before event: two Chinese warships pulling into port.

It could be just the start of a budding naval alliance stretching from the Pacific to the Persian Gulf.

Iranian and Chinese commanders last week announced plans for greater maritime cooperation. While the details are vague, it clearly touches ambitions on both sides: Expanding the reach of their warships into faraway seas and new ports of call. And, at the same time, giving a jab at the United States and its preeminent naval power.

For China, the Iranian naval alliance offers a convenient way-station for Beijings widening outreach in Africa, andanother bonding moment in the largely transactional ties between China and Iran. China needs Irans oil and gas, and Iran is happy to oblige to help offset Western-led sanctions over Tehrans nuclear program.

A deepening Chinese-Iranian naval partnership also could be an extra win for Tehran. Iran often boasts about plans to modernize its fleet, but it remains limited to several diesel-electric submarines and a handful of frigate-class vessels, according to the U.S. Naval Institute. Chinese expertise could help fast-track some ofIran's goals, including integration of surveillance and attack drones onto its warships.

But no one is really talking about what could come. Few specifics emerged after Thursdays meeting in Beijing between the chief of Irans navy, Rear Adm. Habibollah Sayyari, and his Chinese counterpart, Adm. Wu Shengli. Agreements were made to further pragmatic cooperation and strengthen military-to-military ties, Chinas state-run Xinhua news agency reported without elaboration.

Both Iran and China have made it clear they seek to expand their so-called blue water navies capable of long-range voyages in the open sea. The motives, however,are somewhat different. China is a rising naval power and hopes one day to muscle out the U.S. Navy presence in Asia. Iran seeks to use its much more modest navy to remind Washington its influence does not extend into international waters.

Last year, an Iranian destroyer and helicopter carrier docked at the Chinese port city of Zhangjiagang near Shanghai after a 40-day voyage. In early 2011, two Iranian navy vessels passed through the Suez Canaland into the Mediterranean for the first time since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, raising alarm from arch-foe Israel.

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WorldViews: Iran and China deepen a blue water friendship