BRICS leaders call for 'maximum restraint' in Middle East amid Iran-US tensions

The BRICS summit in New Delhi produced something its members had struggled to achieve for months: a unified statement on the Middle East war. On the first day of the gathering, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that all eleven member nations—Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran, the United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia—had adopted a joint declaration calling for "maximum restraint" in the region. The statement expressed deep concern over escalating tensions and urged all parties to avoid actions that could worsen the situation, though it conspicuously avoided naming any country or side.

The breakthrough mattered because BRICS had been fractured on this issue for six months. The bloc represents roughly half the world's population and accounts for about forty percent of global economic output when measured by purchasing power, yet it had failed to issue any joint statement on the Middle East conflict since the US and Israeli strikes on Iran in late February. The war directly involves three BRICS members—Iran, the UAE, and Saudi Arabia—but not as allies. Iran has attacked the UAE and Saudi Arabia, viewing them as American proxies. The divisions ran deep enough that reaching consensus seemed nearly impossible.

China's President Xi Jinping, visiting India for the first time since 2019, underscored Beijing's position that the war serves no one's interests. Speaking to state media, Xi said the conflict had caused serious losses across the region and did not align with the common interests of the international community. He called on BRICS members to work together toward peace and stability in the Middle East and Gulf region, and urged the bloc to stand "on the right side of history" as power politics rise and the international order faces challenge. The statement represented a careful diplomatic formulation—condemning unilateral warfare without pointing fingers at Washington or Tehran.

Modi's success in securing the declaration came as he juggled competing pressures from bloc members with conflicting interests. In bilateral meetings on the summit's sidelines, he met with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and emphasized that all disputes must be resolved through dialogue and diplomacy. He also stressed the need to protect maritime trade, a concern for Iran given US sanctions and military pressure. When Modi met with Russian President Vladimir Putin, the two discussed the Middle East conflict alongside the Ukraine war, with Modi again urging Putin to end the fighting in Eastern Europe. The Indian prime minister was simultaneously managing talks with the UAE's Crown Prince Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed, reinforcing the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between the two nations.

The declaration also addressed broader economic grievances. BRICS members expressed concern about rising unilateral tariffs and non-tariff measures that distort global trade, a direct reference to US sanctions against Iran and Russia. The bloc stressed the need for cooperation to maintain smooth flows of global trade, supply chains, and energy—issues that hit the Global South, which BRICS claims to represent, particularly hard. Oil and fertilizer disruptions from the Middle East war have threatened food security across developing economies.

Xi's presence in New Delhi carried additional weight beyond the Middle East statement. His meeting with Modi, scheduled for late afternoon on the first day, marked a significant moment in the cautious thaw between two nuclear-armed Asian powers whose relations froze after a deadly 2020 border clash in Ladakh's Galwan Valley. The two leaders were expected to discuss bilateral trade and their disputed 3,500-kilometer border along Kashmir and Tibet. India and China maintain heavy military deployments along this frontier, and deep mistrust persists despite recent diplomatic gestures. Yet the very fact that Xi was visiting—his first trip to India in seven years—signaled both nations' interest in managing their rivalry within the BRICS framework.

The trade imbalance between India and China loomed over their talks. Bilateral commerce reached $151 billion in the 2025-26 financial year, making China India's largest trading partner, but the gap was stark: India imported $131 billion in Chinese goods while exporting only $20 billion. Modi's government has also been navigating a delicate position between Washington and Beijing. While the US president threatened India with sanctions for doing business with Iran and Russia, he was simultaneously courting Xi. India needed to deepen ties with China without drifting too far from the United States, where a trade agreement remained pending and where Indian industry depended on American technology.

Beyond the immediate diplomatic choreography, BRICS leaders were pursuing a longer-term challenge to Western financial dominance. Talk of "de-dollarization" filled the summit, though experts cautioned the reality was more modest. BRICS members were increasingly settling bilateral trade in local currencies rather than dollars—a shift driven less by ideology than by practical concerns. US sanctions, tariffs, and the freezing of foreign reserves had pushed countries across the Global South to reconsider their exposure to the American financial system. By trading directly in rupees, rubles, yuan, and other local currencies, developing economies could reduce transaction costs, speed payments, and lower their reliance on dollar-denominated debt. India itself had historical precedent: it had run a rupee-ruble trading arrangement with the Soviet Union decades earlier. The shift represented not a coordinated campaign to topple the dollar but a pragmatic hedge, spreading financial risk across multiple currencies and systems, one bilateral deal at a time.