Wars pose a test as India hosts BRICS summit with Russia, Iran leaders

India will host leaders including the presidents of Russia and Iran for a BRICS summit on Saturday. Wars in the Middle East and Ukraine, alongside economic challenges, are expected to dominate talks among the 11-member group.

Who is attending the BRICS summit in India?

Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian are expected in New Delhi as early as Friday, with both due to hold talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Chinese President Xi Jinping has also been invited, though Beijing has yet to confirm his participation in the two-day meeting.

A visit by Xi would be his first to India since 2019. It would mark the biggest step yet in a cautious thaw between the two neighbors, six years after a deadly military clash along their disputed Himalayan border. Ties between the two nuclear-armed Asian giants have been warming since that 2020 clash, with flights, visas and high-level contacts gradually restored.

Deep mistrust remains, however, with their contested frontier, a widening trade deficit and strategic rivalry still complicating relations. "An India-China bilateral would be very important, if it takes place," said Pradeep Taneja, a China-India expert at the University of Melbourne.

Posters of a beaming Modi line streets across New Delhi to welcome the visiting leaders. Heavy security deployments and widespread traffic restrictions have been put in place across central districts, and Delhi police have urged people to "stay patient, stay cooperative." Friday has been declared a city holiday.

Why does the Middle East conflict test BRICS unity?

BRICS was created in 2009 as a forum for major emerging economies seeking greater influence in institutions dominated by Western powers. It has since expanded to include Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, three countries with sharply differing positions on the war launched by the United States and Israel in February.

"The Gulf conflict is going to be the central fault line this time during the BRICS summit," said Harsh V. Pant of India's Observer Research Foundation. "What was seen until last year as an achievement, the expansion of BRICS, today looks like a big constraint on BRICS," he added.

This will be Pezeshkian's first visit to India as president, putting the Middle East conflict firmly on the agenda. "The war in Iran will provide a stern test of the (expanded) group's cohesion," said Shilan Shah of Capital Economics, pointing to the BRICS foreign ministers' failure to agree a joint statement when they met in New Delhi in May.

How is India balancing ties with Russia and Iran?

India maintains cordial relations with both Iran and Israel, while also carefully managing its ties with Washington. It has navigated the energy crisis caused by the Iran war partly by turning to Russia, one of its most important strategic partners and its most controversial fuel supplier in recent years as the war with Ukraine drags on.

Putin last visited India in December 2025, and also met Modi in Bishkek this month. Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar visited Kyiv this month too, where Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he was "grateful to India for its commitment to ending this unjust war."