War in Iran Tests BRICS Unity and India’s “Multi-Alignment”

The Israeli-American war against Iran is testing the political coherence of BRICS and raising difficult questions about India’s “multi-alignment” strategy and its ambitions to lead the Global South.

Yet the current war has exposed a deeper contradiction within the group. Iran is now a full member of BRICS, while India—one of its founding members—has simultaneously deepened its strategic partnership with Israel, the very country, together with the United States, conducting military operations against Tehran.

The tension goes beyond diplomatic positioning. It raises a broader question about what kind of political and normative project BRICS represents and whether India’s foreign policy remains fully compatible with it. I consulted several experts to shed light on these issues.

India’s growing partnership with Israel

The strategic partnership between India and Israel is not new. Dr. Vinicius Teixeira, a Brazilian geopolitical analyst and professor at the State University of Mato Grosso (UNEMAT), notes that cooperation between the two countries has been consolidated since the late 1990s, particularly in the defence sector. Israel has provided India with technologies and weapons systems that were often difficult for New Delhi to obtain from Western suppliers, especially in areas such as air defence and missile systems. Over time, cooperation expanded to intelligence sharing and broader strategic coordination.

For Dr Alexandre Coelho, Professor of International Relations at the Fundação Armando Alvares Penteado (FAAP) in São Paulo, and Co-Chair of the Asian and Pacific Research Committee of the International Political Science Association (IPSA), India’s rapprochement with Israel must be understood within the broader transformation of Indian foreign policy over the past two decades.

According to Coelho, India has deliberately diversified its technological, military, and economic partnerships. Israel has emerged as a particularly valuable partner in this process. “Israel has become a central partner for India in key sectors such as defence technology, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, and intelligence cooperation,” he notes.

From this perspective, for the Indian geopolitical analyst Ajay Khambhala, the engagement with Israel does not necessarily represent a rupture with India’s other partnerships, but rather part of a broader strategy aimed at maximising national capabilities. Teixeira also observes that the recent acceleration of the relationship reflects not only strategic interests but also a degree of political affinity between the current Indian and Israeli governments.

However, this pragmatic explanation does not fully resolve the political contradiction now facing BRICS.

For Dr. Alexandre Uehara, International Relations Programme Coordinator at ESPM and Visiting Professor at the University of São Paulo (USP), the agreements signed during Prime........

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