NEW DELHI: Foreign ministers of the BRICS grouping failed to issue a joint communique after a two-day meeting in New Delhi on Friday, with sharp divisions over the Iran and Gaza wars exposing geopolitical fault lines.
The expanded bloc now includes both Iran and the United Arab Emirates.
"The breakdown in consensus was driven primarily by objections raised by Iran to key paragraphs in the draft outcome document dealing with West Asia, Gaza and maritime security," sources said.
According to sources, Tehran opposed paragraph 26, which addressed the Gaza and Palestine issue, and paragraph 29, which referenced the importance of ensuring “the exercise of navigational rights and freedoms of vessels of all states in the Red Sea and Bab Al-Mandab Strait, in accordance with international law.”
As a result, host India was forced to issue a chair’s statement and outcome document that mentioned “a member had reservations on some aspects of this paragraph,” without naming any country.
However, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi suggested that the UAE had blocked consensus language due to its alignment with Israel and the United States.
“It is a matter of fact that the final statement was blocked by a member-state due to its special relationship with Israel,” Araghchi told reporters without directly naming Abu Dhabi.
“There were differing views among some members as regards the situation in the West Asia/Middle East region,” India said in the chair statement.
The document acknowledged a range of positions expressed by members.
Iran's foreign minister said Tehran had “no difficulty” with the unnamed country and insisted Tehran had targeted only U.S. military assets during the ongoing conflict.
“We only hit American military bases and American military installations, which are unfortunately on their soil,” he said.
Sources said the core dispute reflects a deeper regional confrontation, with Iran seeking explicit condemnation of the U.S.-Israeli military campaign, while the UAE has resisted language seen as legitimising Iranian strikes.
Despite sustained negotiations, India’s attempt to bridge differences between the two sides failed, underscoring the limits of consensus-building within an increasingly fragmented BRICS grouping.
The chair’s statement nevertheless highlighted shared concerns over regional instability and stressed the importance of safe and unimpeded maritime commerce through international waterways, amid escalating risks to shipping routes through the Red Sea and the Strait of Hormuz.
On Palestine, BRICS members reaffirmed support for a two-state solution and backed the creation of an independent Palestinian state within the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital.