A two-day meeting of BRICS foreign ministers opening Thursday in New Delhi faces significant challenges in reaching consensus as the US-Israel war on Iran threatens to fracture the developing nations' bloc, with soaring energy prices and regional instability exposing the limits of multilateral coordination among economies with divergent interests.
The grouping of developing countries, which originally included Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, has expanded over the years with the inclusion of Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates. Iran had urged India, the BRICS chair for 2026, to use the platform to build a consensus condemning US and Israeli actions in the Gulf conflict.
Regional Conflict Disrupts Economic Forum
The main differences have emerged between the United Arab Emirates and Iran, which began lobbing missiles and drones at Gulf countries after the US and Israel launched a war on the country on February 28. Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi is likely to arrive late on Wednesday to attend the gathering, which will run through May 14–15. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is also expected to attend the meeting. It was not immediately clear who would represent the UAE during the meeting.
Indian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal had said in March that some BRICS members were involved directly in the conflict, due to which it had been "difficult for us to forge a consensus." During the fighting, the UAE and other Gulf states did not join the US and Israeli strikes on Iran, though a report Monday claimed the Emirates and Saudi Arabia had quietly struck Iranian military and energy sites in early April, a revelation liable to raise tensions.
Economic Fallout Spreads
Soaring energy prices caused by Iran largely closing the Strait of Hormuz have thrown global markets into turmoil. The US later imposed its own blockade of Iranian ports in response. The blockade over the key waterway has prompted many BRICS nations, including India, to introduce emergency measures to protect their economies and consumers. The disruption underscores how geopolitical conflicts impose direct costs on nations dependent on stable energy markets and open shipping lanes.
Another ministry official told Reuters that India was hopeful it would get a joint statement after the latest round of meetings with foreign ministers. Former Indian diplomat Manjeev Singh Puri said, "Glad that the foreign ministers from all the BRICS countries, except China who is otherwise tied up, are coming. This is a good sign on efforts to build a BRICS coalition around a matter of interest to emerging economies and the global south," and added, "Of course political solutions are difficult but the fact that they are meeting is positive and hopefully it will lead to a way forward."
China's Calculated Absence
So far, China has taken a nominally neutral stance, given its robust ties with both Iran and Sunni-majority Arab states. China will be represented by its Ambassador to India Xu Feihong to fill in for its Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who is unlikely to travel with US President Donald Trump visiting Beijing this week. The diplomatic juggling act reveals the competing priorities facing BRICS members as they attempt to balance economic interests with regional security concerns.
Why This Matters:
The BRICS summit's struggle to forge consensus demonstrates the practical limits of multilateral institutions when member states face direct security and economic threats. The closure of the Strait of Hormuz and resulting energy price spikes have forced individual nations to prioritize their own economic stability through emergency measures rather than rely on collective diplomatic solutions. For India and other developing economies, the conflict illustrates the vulnerability of market-dependent growth strategies to regional instability. The inability to produce a unified statement would signal that national interests and bilateral relationships ultimately trump bloc solidarity when vital economic concerns are at stake, reinforcing the case for diversified energy sources and reduced dependence on volatile regions for critical resources.