BRICS Summit Opens in New Delhi as Iran War Exposes Deep Divisions Within the Bloc

The 18th BRICS summit opened in New Delhi on Saturday with the bloc’s most ambitious member, Russia, and its newest, Iran, using the platform to attack U.S. dollar dominance — while the war in Iran itself threatens to tear the group apart from within.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian arrived in the Indian capital on Friday, and on Saturday morning both criticised the U.S.-led global financial system in their opening remarks, according to footage released by state media. “The weaponisation of the dollar must end,” Pezeshkian said, a reference to sanctions imposed on Iran since the U.S.-Israeli campaign began in February 2026. Putin echoed the sentiment, calling for a “fairer multipolar financial architecture”. Source 4

But the bloc’s expansion has brought in members with starkly opposing positions on that war. The United Arab Emirates, which joined BRICS in 2024 alongside Iran, has taken a pro-Western stance and is diplomatically aligned with the U.S. campaign. Saudi Arabia, another newer member, has been locked in a separate conflict with Iran-backed Houthi forces in Yemen. “The Gulf conflict is going to be the central fault line this time during the BRICS summit,” Harsh V Pant of the Observer Research Foundation told AFP, as quoted by our partner outlet Al Jazeera. Source 1

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the host, has tried to keep the agenda focused on economic cooperation and strengthening the bloc’s role as a counterweight to Western-led institutions. On Saturday morning, Modi and Putin held bilateral talks that resulted in an agreement to deepen India-Russia ties, according to a statement from the Indian foreign ministry cited by Reuters. Source 6 The two leaders discussed energy security, trade in national currencies, and defence cooperation — issues that have become more pressing for Moscow as Western sanctions tighten.

Chinese President Xi Jinping also arrived in New Delhi on Saturday morning, his first visit to India in seven years. He is expected to hold bilateral talks with Modi later on Saturday, according to Indian officials. The India-China border dispute, which flared into deadly clashes in 2020, remains a source of tension, making the summit a rare moment of high-level contact between the two nuclear-armed neighbours. Source 5

Outside the summit venues, the red-carpet treatment has provoked anger among New Delhi residents. Heavy security deployments — 30,000 extra personnel — and road closures in central districts have snarled traffic and forced evictions of some shopkeepers and hawkers. Local media reported protests on Friday. “The city is being shut down for a photo op,” one resident told the AFP news agency. Source 2

The summit’s agenda also includes discussion of the war in Ukraine, though analysts say Russia’s position as a fellow BRICS member limits the bloc’s ability to criticise Moscow directly. “Ukraine is the elephant in the room, but no one wants to call it out because Putin is sitting at the table,” said a European diplomat who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Despite the internal fractures, BRICS continues to position itself as a vehicle for Global South interests. Since its founding in 2009, the group has created a development bank and a contingency reserve arrangement, but the dollar remains dominant in global trade. “The success of BRICS should not be measured by whether it can pose an alternative to West-led institutions, but by whether it makes Western dominance harder to exercise,” argued analysts quoted by Al Jazeera. Source 3

The summit continues through Sunday. A joint declaration is expected, but the language on the Iran war will be closely watched as a test of whether the bloc can still speak with one voice.