The Pulse | Diplomacy | South Asia

Why India Should Leverage BRICS to Call for Ceasefire in West Asia

What makes BRICS silence on the war in West Asia particularly deplorable is that two fellow BRICS members — Iran and the UAE — are directly caught in the war.

India’s Minister of External Affairs S Jaishankar and representatives from BRICS member states pose for a group photograph at the first BRICS Sherpa meeting under the chairmanship of India, at New Delhi, Feb. 9-11, 2026

In his telephonic conversation with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on March 21, Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian urged India, in its capacity as the BRICS chair for 2026, to play an “independent role” in brokering an end to the war on Iran. “The nations of BRICS must not stand silent while the sovereignty of a member state is violated,” Pezeshkian said, according to the Iranian presidential office’s readout.

Iran became a member of BRICS in January 2024. The 10-member grouping of emerging non-Western economies initially comprised Brazil, Russia, India and China. South Africa joined in 2011, followed by Iran, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Ethiopia, Egypt and Indonesia in 2024-2025.

Since February 28, when the U.S. and Israel jointly launched air and missile strikes on Iran, the war in West Asia has escalated and spread geographically to include the GCC countries.

Despite the mounting casualties, destruction of infrastructure, and the crippling impact that the war is having on economies worldwide, BRICS has remained silent. Not only has it not issued an official statement on the war, but India, as BRICS chair this year, has not convened an emergency meeting of the member states to discuss it.

What makes BRICS silence on this war particularly deplorable is that two fellow BRICS members — Iran and the UAE — are directly caught in the war.

Indian officials blame divisions within BRICS for the grouping’s failure to issue a statement.

At a media briefing on March 27, India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal pointed to the direct involvement of “some of the BRICS members” in the war. Since “BRICS way of working… [that] is based on consensus… and because we have differing opinions, it has been difficult for us to forge a consensus on this particular conflict,” he said.

Indeed, member states have responded differently to the war. Russia and China were swift in their condemnation of the U.S.-Israeli attack on Iran; Russia described the attack on Iran as “a preplanned and unprovoked act of armed aggression against a sovereign and independent U.N. member state,” while China called it “brazen aggression against a sovereign nation.”

India, in contrast, has remained silent on the U.S.-Israeli aggression.

A major stumbling block to BRICS forging a consensus position will be the likely divergent positions that Iran and the UAE will take on the war, given that they are effectively adversaries. Iran has been carrying out drone and missile strikes on the UAE, which hosts American military bases.

There is speculation, too, about India’s interest in BRICS.

BRICS is perceived as an anti-West grouping. It has been exploring options to reduce dependence on the U.S. financial system. This has drawn the ire of U.S. President Donald Trump, who has warned BRICS members that any move on their part towards de-dollarization would have heavy consequences, such as increased tariff rates, for them.

For India, which is yet to finalize a tariff agreement with the Trump administration and is already suffering much turmoil in its relations with the U.S. over the past year, energetically leading BRICS, many of whose members are sympathetic to Iran, could invite more trouble from Trump.

India is on the side of the U.S. and........

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