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BRICS Summit Sees Iran, Russia, China Attend Amid Regional Tensions
Confirmed
In Short: The 18th BRICS summit in New Delhi saw Iran, Russia, and China attend amid ongoing regional tensions.
At the 18th BRICS summit in New Delhi, Iran, Russia, and China convened, with Iran seeking membership in the BRICS New Development Bank to secure a critical economic lifeline.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent discussed the summit's implications, noting the significance of Iran's engagement with key trading partners like China, India, and Russia.
In private meetings, the US war in Iran was likely a topic of conversation, with the US needing a resolution that denies Iran a nuclear bomb and forces Tehran to capitulate, while Iran requires a security guarantee and economic lifelines independent of American sanctions relief.
Russia, China, and India can offer Iran the security backing and economic support the US cannot provide, addressing Iran's need for a reliable security guarantee and dollar-independent economic lifelines.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the unanimous adoption of the New Delhi Declaration 2026, highlighting India's role in steering BRICS towards a common position amid heightened global tensions.
BRICS leaders reaffirmed their commitment to resolving international disputes peacefully through dialogue, consultation, and diplomacy, despite differing positions on regional issues.
What's confirmed
- At the 18th BRICS summit in New Delhi, Iran, Russia, and China convened, with Iran seeking membership in the BRICS New Development Bank to secure a critical economic lifeline.
- US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent discussed the summit's implications, noting the significance of Iran's engagement with key trading partners like China, India, and Russia.
- In private meetings, the US war in Iran was likely a topic of conversation, with the US needing a resolution that denies Iran a nuclear bomb and forces Tehran to capitulate, while Iran requires a security guarantee and economic lifelines independent of American sanctions relief.
- Russia, China, and India can offer Iran the security backing and economic support the US cannot provide, addressing Iran's need for a reliable security guarantee and dollar-independent economic lifelines.
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the unanimous adoption of the New Delhi Declaration 2026, highlighting India's role in steering BRICS towards a common position amid heightened global tensions.
- BRICS leaders reaffirmed their commitment to resolving international disputes peacefully through dialogue, consultation, and diplomacy, despite differing positions on regional issues.
What's still developing
- The country that convened this summit, and the two great powers that anchored it, may hold the key to ending a war that Washington started and can no longer finish.
- Beijing buys the majority of Iran’s exported oil, much of it through intermediaries outside formal dollar clearing systems, and has done so through years of sanctions with only modest disruption.
- A settlement that allows expanded, formalised Chinese investment, perhaps folded into the 25-year cooperation agreement the two countries signed in 2021, gives Iran an economic future independent of American sanctions relief.
- But in the private meetings that matter more than the joint communiqué, the US war in Iran was almost certainly a subject of conversation.
- US and Israeli strikes in June 2025 set back Iran’s nuclear programme but did not end it and did not topple the regime, either.
- He needs the conflict resolved in a way that lets him claim he denied Iran a bomb and forced Tehran to its knees.
- Iran, for its part, needs something the United States is structurally incapable of offering: a security guarantee it can believe.
- Moscow has also said Russia understands India's position on the war in Ukraine and that it "to a great extent corresponds" with Russia's own position, while calling on India to facilitate a peaceful resolution.