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New Delhi: At the opening of the BRICS foreign ministers’ meeting, external affairs minister S. Jaishankar on Thursday (May 14) called for unimpeded maritime passage through the Strait of Hormuz and described unilateral sanctions as ‘unjustifiable’, even as the bloc struggles to find a common position on the Iran conflict in West Asia.

The two-day meeting in the Indian capital is the first major ministerial engagement under India’s 2026 BRICS chairmanship and the first such plurilateral meeting since the Iran war started in February this year.

Delivering India’s national statement, Jaishankar said the conflict in West Asia “merits particular attention” and called for “safe and unimpeded maritime flows through international waterways, including the Strait of Hormuz and Red Sea.”

He described “the increasing resort to unilateral coercive measures and sanctions inconsistent with international law and the UN Charter” as disproportionately affecting developing countries. “These unjustifiable measures cannot substitute dialogue, nor can pressure replace diplomacy,” he said. The statement did not name the United States or Israel.

India has traditionally........

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