NextFin News - A two-day summit of BRICS foreign ministers opened in New Delhi on Thursday under the heavy shadow of the U.S.-Israeli military campaign against Iran, exposing deep internal fractures within a bloc that has long sought to present a unified alternative to Western hegemony. As the 2026 chair of the group, India now finds itself in the precarious position of mediating between a founding member under fire and newer entrants whose regional security interests are diametrically opposed to Tehran’s.
The conflict, which escalated sharply following the February 28 military intervention, has effectively paralyzed the Strait of Hormuz and sent shockwaves through global energy markets. Brent crude was trading at $105.79 per barrel on Thursday, reflecting a persistent war premium as the de facto closure of the world’s most vital oil chokepoint continues to drain global buffers. For India, the stakes of this diplomatic balancing act are not merely geopolitical but existential, given its reliance on Middle Eastern energy and its strategic investments in Iranian infrastructure like the Chabahar port.
Tehran has explicitly called upon New Delhi to use the BRICS platform to forge a consensus condemning U.S. and Israeli actions. However, the inclusion of the United Arab Emirates into the bloc last year has complicated this ambition. According to Reuters, the UAE has pushed for language that remains neutral or even critical of Iranian regional proxies, creating a fundamental rift with Iran and its traditional backers in the group. This friction has turned the New Delhi meeting into a litmus test for whether BRICS can function as a coherent political entity or if it will remain a loose collection of states with irreconcilable security priorities.
The economic fallout of the war is further complicating the diplomatic landscape. While oil prices remain elevated, the safe-haven trade has pushed spot gold to $4,554.10 per ounce, according to data from XS.com. These price levels are placing immense pressure on the developing economies that make up the bulk of the BRICS+ membership. While Russia and Iran may benefit from higher energy prices in theory, the physical disruption of supply routes and the threat of secondary U.S. sanctions are stifling actual trade flows.
U.S. President Trump has maintained a hardline stance, repeating war threats against Iran just as the New Delhi summit commenced. This rhetoric has forced BRICS members to weigh their desire for a "multipolar world" against the reality of U.S. financial and military reach. China, represented at the summit by Premier Li Qiang, has maintained a cautious tone, calling for "restraint" while avoiding a full-throated endorsement of Iran’s demands for a collective BRICS condemnation of the West. This caution reflects Beijing’s own delicate balancing act as it manages a fragile "tariff truce" with the Trump administration.
The primary challenge for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is to prevent the summit from ending without a joint statement—an outcome that would signal a significant failure of Indian leadership. Beyond the immediate conflict, the rift over Iran threatens to stall other BRICS initiatives, including the development of an alternative payment system designed to bypass the SWIFT network. If the bloc cannot agree on a shared security narrative in the Middle East, the likelihood of achieving deep financial integration remains remote.
Some analysts suggest that the current deadlock may actually serve India’s long-term interests by allowing it to position itself as the only "neutral" bridge between the Global South and the West. However, this assumes that the conflict remains contained. With the Strait of Hormuz closed and energy prices hovering in triple digits, the luxury of neutrality is rapidly evaporating. The coming 48 hours in New Delhi will determine if BRICS can survive its first major internal security crisis or if the "rift over Iran" will become the permanent fault line of the expanded bloc.
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