Iran war shows limits of Brics as India pushed to choose sides

India is facing mounting pressure as leader of the Brics group to steer the bloc toward taking a firmer stand on the Iran conflict, putting New Delhi’s diplomacy to the test.

Almost a month after the US and Israel began airstrikes on Iran — which killed the senior leadership in that country and triggered a global energy crisis — the Brics group has failed to take a position on the war.

Driving the impasse is the fact that multiple members of the bloc are on different sides of the conflict, making any hard consensus difficult to wrangle. Iran, a Brics member since 2024, has responded to the US-Israel attacks by firing rockets at the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. The UAE joined the bloc in 2024, while Saudi Arabia is weighing an invitation to join.

Iran has asked India — which holds the rotating chairmanship of Brics this year — to support its bid to condemn the joint US and Israeli military campaign against it, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the matter. The UAE and Saudi Arabia are unlikely to agree, the people said, while China and Russia may extend tacit support to Iran.

Members of the bloc have drafted at least three statements responding to the conflict, two of which have been rejected so far owing to internal divisions with the group — including one that condemned Israel and the US for their strikes, a person familiar with the matter said. Some within the body feel the Brics risks becoming irrelevant if it doesn’t engage with the defining issues of the moment, another person said.

The bloc’s wavering contrasts with its condemnation of the US-Israeli strikes on Iran in July 2025 and calling for the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza. In January, the group was silent on the US capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

The deadlock underscores the challenges facing the bloc of emerging economies as the war enters its fourth week. President Donald Trump is now pushing talks with Iran in a bid to halt the fighting, although the Islamic Republic is yet to confirm any negotiations are underway.

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The war has put India in particular in a diplomatic bind, one that is being accentuated given its leading role in the BRICS. India shares close ties with both the US and Israel, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi was in Tel Aviv just days before the conflict began.

Iran ties

New Delhi also shares historical links with Iran and is heavily reliant on oil and gas flows through the Strait of Hormuz, which has been virtually shut since the war began. India is one of the few countries that’s negotiated the safe transit through the strait for some of its tankers.

At the same time, New Delhi has strong economic ties with the UAE and other Gulf nations, where almost 10 million Indians work.

The pressure on Modi to steer the Brics to speak out has spilled into public view. On Saturday, President Masoud Pezeshkian told Modi that the BRICS should “play an independent role in halting aggressions” against Iran and safeguard regional peace and stability, according to the Iranian Embassy in India.

India’s Ministry of External Affairs, the UAE embassy in New Delhi and a spokesman for Brazil’s government didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. Chrispin Phiri, a spokesman for South Africa’s foreign affairs ministry, said there are “ongoing engagements” on a possible BRICS statement and South Africa would support a consensus outcome.

India has so far resisted calls to intervene via the Brics. India believes it cannot take sides as chair, but it can facilitate discussions between the members for a resolution, according to people familiar with the matter. Foreign Ministry spokesman Randhir Jaiswal said earlier this month it was difficult to bridge the differences between Brics members given that several are involved in the conflict.

“India is a country that really has a foot in more than one boat,” said Sadanand Dhume, senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, adding that the war “does make things harder for India because India is a classic example of a swing state in Brics.”

“For India, this creates a great deal of awkwardness,” he said.

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The situation highlights the complexity of the fast-moving war and the challenges it has long faced in achieving consensus on thorny geopolitical issues. Brics was formally established in 2009 by founding members Brazil, Russia, India and China. The group isn’t bound by any single goal or ideology beyond providing a forum for developing nations.

Trump has railed against Brics for being anti-US and dominated by the agendas of China and Russia. He’s threatened 100% tariffs against its members in the past and accused the bloc of seeking to undermine the US dollar.

“It is certainly not a military alliance. Member states have no obligations to come to each other’s aid,” said Alexander Gabuev, Berlin-based director of the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center. “If anyone hoped to turn Brics into an alternative to the G-8 or other Western groupings, those expectations will not materialize.”

Iran put forward a draft statement condemning Israel and the US and pushing for an end to the “attack,” according to the person familiar with the matter. That draft was rejected, with objections coming from the UAE, which said it did not reflect Iran’s role as an aggressor given its attacks on neighboring countries. A second more neutral draft condemning the loss of life and calling for calm was proposed by India, but did not gain traction and was also opposed by the UAE, this person said. A third version drawing attention to the upending of global energy markets now remains under discussion.

Brics is likely to remain viable so long as it focuses on areas of “pragmatic collaboration” like development financing and trade facilitation, rather than “ideological cohesion,” said Irene Mia, a senior fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies.

“Should it attempt to transform itself into a formal geopolitical alliance, it would risk internal fragmentation and failure,” she said. ““Expecting a strong, unified geopolitical response from Brics misunderstands both its structure and its purpose.”

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