BRICS Foreign Ministers to meet in Delhi amid West Asia crisis and internal divisions
Primary region BRICS
Tags Diplomacy · Security · Energy · Policy
Regions BRICS · Asia · Middle East
India is hosting the BRICS Foreign Ministers' Meeting in New Delhi on May 14-15, 2026, chaired by External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar. The meeting is overshadowed by deep divisions within the 11-member bloc over the US-Israel war on Iran, with Iran's FM Araghchi and Russia's Lavrov confirmed to attend while China's Wang Yi will skip the gathering, sending Ambassador Xu Feihong instead. The previous deputy foreign ministers' meeting in April ended without a joint statement after UAE and Iran sparred over language on the conflict.
Strategic interpretation
India faces a delicate diplomatic balancing act as BRICS chair: navigating between Iran (which wants BRICS to condemn US-Israeli strikes) and the UAE/Saudi Arabia (which host US military assets and have been targeted by Iranian missiles). China's decision to send only an ambassador signals that Beijing prioritizes the bilateral US-China track over multilateral BRICS diplomacy.