This is the first visit of Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi to India in a year. File | Photo credit: AP
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi will travel to New Delhi this week to attend the BRICS foreign ministers’ meeting on May 14-15 and is expected to invite Prime Minister Narendra Modi ahead of his visit to the United Arab Emirates, diplomatic sources confirmed to The Hindu.
Mr Araghchi, who will arrive on Wednesday (May 13, 2026), is expected to meet the Prime Minister on Thursday (May 14, 2026) at a joint invitation along with other BRICS ministers from Brazil, Russia, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia and Indonesia.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi is likely to stay in Beijing for a visit by US President Donald Trump scheduled for the same dates. Officials did not confirm whether UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan would travel to Delhi for the BRICS meeting or remain in Abu Dhabi to receive Mr Modi. A flurry of diplomatic meetings at the highest levels suggests India is strengthening its reach amid a war in West Asia that has had a profound economic impact on the country and the region.
Mr. Modi’s visit to the UAE comes at the start of his six-day, five-day tour of Europe from May 15 to 20. He is expected to visit the Netherlands, Sweden, Italy and Norway for bilateral visits. He will attend the Nordic-Indian summit in Oslo, which is attended by representatives of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Sweden and Norway.
“This visit underscores the importance of cooperation with India, Norway and the Nordic countries in these times of global instability. We stand together in promoting international cooperation and a rules-based world order,” Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre said in announcing Mr Modi’s visit, indicating that ongoing conflicts in Ukraine, Iran and Gaza were expected to be discussed during the summit.
The engagements in Delhi and Abu Dhabi will be particularly significant as they come amid a lull in war in West Asia and as the government begins to implement the oil and foreign exchange and travel austerity measures proposed by Mr Modi at a public meeting in Hyderabad on Sunday (May 10, 2026).
Mr Modi’s meeting with Mr Araghchi, just ahead of his meeting with UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed, comes a week after tensions between Iran and the UAE escalated when Iran launched a missile attack on the Fujairah oil facility. India condemned the strikes, while Iran said it was targeting the UAE for US support after US warships attacked Iranian naval ships in the Strait of Hormuz.
This is Mr. Araghchi’s first visit to India after a year. In March, days after the US-Israeli attacks on Iran began, his deputy Saeed Khatibzadeh visited Delhi and met with External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar. Mr Araghchi and Mr Jaishankar have spoken on the phone five times since the conflict began. Of particular concern to India is the ongoing blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, with 13 Indian ships and 340 sailors stranded in the strait and the delivery of energy, fertilizer and other supplies also delayed.
Meanwhile, in Delhi, ahead of the BRICS conference, representatives of all the BRICS countries or “Sherpas” met on Monday (May 11, 2026) to discuss an agenda for the grouping of emerging economies.
A BRICS meeting on Thursday (May 14, 2026) and Friday (May 15, 2026) hosted by Mr. Jaishankar will set the agenda for the September 10-11 summit. Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, Iranian President Masoud Pezehammad, UAE President Pezehammad, UAE Abedymad El-Sisi, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto will be invited to Delhi. Brazilian President Lula, who is facing elections in October, is unlikely to attend and made his concerns known during his visit to Delhi for an artificial intelligence summit in February this year.
Published – 11 May 2026 22:12 IST
