The war in West Asia rages on as Saudi fighter jets pound Houthi positions. This despite a meeting on the sidelines of the New Delhi BRICS Summit, the first of its kind since the war started in February this year between the Iranian President and the Abu Dhabi Crown Prince in what was seen as an attempt to bring about a breakthrough.

However, the follow-up meeting on Monday, where the Iranians were supposed to unveil their plan for a safe transit corridor through the Strait of Hormuz, seems to have been overtaken by the war in Yemen, where the success of the Iran-backed Houthi rebels has worried Saudi Arabia to no end. The Houthis have taken charge of the mouth of the Red Sea even as missiles fired from Iraq have damaged the Saudi East-West pipeline, crippling evacuation of the oil-rich kingdom’s natural resources.

Be that as may be, the tentative steps taken by the ‘dove of peace’ set loose at Delhi may still be able to fly if cooler heads were to sit down and work towards that goal.

The most revealing moment of the BRICS Summit in New Delhi may have come after the leaders had finished talking. Let’s look at what exactly happened last week, which gives some hope for the grim situation in West Asia, which has seen stock markets and currencies collapsing, energy crises erupting, and factories shutting down across the globe.

BRICS And Diplomatic Reach

BRICS by itself cannot stop the war. It has no ceasefire mechanism, peacekeeping force or authority to compel Iran, the US or their partners to halt hostilities. Nor can it guarantee the security........

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