The BRICS Foreign Ministers’ Meeting will be held in May and the 18th BRICS Summit will be held in September. | Photo credit: Getty Images/iStockphoto
Hoping to reach an elusive consensus on the war in West Asia, New Delhi continues to plan key BRICS meetings in India this year, sending out invitations to the BRICS foreign ministers’ meeting in May and the 18th BRICS summit in September.
Invitations to the 10-nation grouping, which also includes Iran and the United Arab Emirates, were issued in mid-March, according to a number of officials and diplomats. The two countries have rejected several attempts by India – as the current BRICS chair – to issue a joint statement. The officials said it was unclear whether they would attend the meeting together, but “as of now” the BRICS foreign minister meeting is scheduled to take place in person in mid-May. The summit, which could bring Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping and leaders from Brazil, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates together in Delhi, is expected to take place on September 9-10.
“One of the key events on the political track, in addition to the traditional meeting of leaders (in September), will be the meeting of BRICS foreign ministers scheduled for May,” Russian government spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told reporters in Moscow this week. “It will be a good opportunity to have a thorough discussion on current issues of the international agenda, the role of BRICS in the world and opportunities for joint action,” she answered questions about how the grouping of emerging non-Western economies would deal with the war in West Asia, where Iran has responded to US-Israeli attacks since February 28, especially on the Persian Gulf countries.
With India chairing the grouping in 2026, diplomats openly acknowledged the difficulty of crafting a statement acceptable to both Tehran and Abu Dhabi.
“We are continuing our discussions with the BRICS members on the conflict in West Asia,” External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said at a media briefing on Friday (March 27, 2026). “As you know, some BRICS members are also directly involved in the conflict… Because we have different views, it has been difficult for us to reach a consensus on this particular conflict.”
In June 2025, the BRICS, then chaired by Brazil, managed to issue a strong statement when the US and Israel jointly struck several Iranian nuclear sites, condemning military strikes against Iran as “violations of international law and the United Nations Charter” and expressing grave concern over “deliberate attacks on civilian infrastructure and peaceful nuclear facilities under full IAEA safeguards and appropriate IAEA safeguards”. atomic energy (IAEA). IAEA’.
While Iran launched missiles and drones at Israel last year, following attacks that killed its Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on February 28, Iran expanded its strikes on US bases and other buildings in several Gulf states, a move India condemned.
New Delhi’s failure to reach a consensus among countries to discuss the current conflict and energy crisis was criticized by the opposition during an all-party meeting on Wednesday (March 25, 2026) chaired by Defense Minister Rajnath Singh. According to sources, opposition MPs asked External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar why he did not convene meetings of his BRICS counterparts as well as the US-India-Japan-Australia Quad, which India chairs this year and both have members involved in the war.
Mr Jaishankar is believed to have explained the difficulties in the situation, adding that while India was unable to falsify the statement, India was one of the few countries to engage all sides in the conflict.
Published – 27 March 2026 23:21 IST
