Narendra Modi Holds Talks With Vladimir Putin and Masoud Pezeshkian Ahead of BRICS Summit

Modi meets Iran, Russia

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi held separate talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian in New Delhi on Friday ahead of a weekend summit of the BRICS grouping of countries. The AP report said Modi and Putin discussed cooperation in political, economic, defense, energy and other sectors, and exchanged views on regional and global issues including Middle East conflicts.

The same report said Modi thanked Pezeshkian for Iran’s high-level participation in BRICS “despite the challenging circumstances,” referring to the Iran war. Al Jazeera said Putin and Pezeshkian arrived in the Indian capital ahead of an 11-member BRICS summit set to be dominated by wars in the Middle East and Ukraine, and noted that Modi met Pezeshkian and underscored the need to protect freedom of navigation and commerce and the safety and well-being of ship’s crews.

Reporting for this sectionABCAl Jazeera

US dominance and restraint

Al Jazeera reported that the presidents of Iran and Russia criticised US dollar dominance ahead of the BRICS summit in India, with countering the US role in the global economy and the effects of its war on Iran expected to lead the agenda as the 11-nation bloc meets on September 12.

In a separate Al Jazeera report on the summit’s joint declaration, leaders adopted the New Delhi Declaration calling for restraint in the Middle East while avoiding condemning the US-Israeli strikes or Iran’s targeting of Gulf countries.

The declaration also expressed “deep concern over the continued escalation of tensions in the Middle East” and called for “exercising maximum restraint,” according to AnewZ’s account of the text.

Al Jazeera’s coverage said the declaration “steered clear” of naming any countries, even on the issue of wide-ranging US tariffs, and quoted Harsh V. Pant of India’s Observer Research Foundation warning that “The Gulf conflict is going to be the central fault line this time during the BRICS summit.”

Reporting for this sectionAl JazeeraAnewZ

BRICS cohesion tested

Al Jazeera said the New Delhi Declaration was adopted despite divisions among members over the wars in Iran and Ukraine, and it raised concern over deliberate attacks on civilian infrastructure and peaceful nuclear facilities protected by International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards. The same Al Jazeera report said the war in Iran was one of the biggest tests of whether the expanded BRICS could reach a common position, with leaders expressing “deep concern over the continued escalation of tensions” and calling for “maximum restraint.”

Al-Arabi Al-Jadeed described the BRICS summit in India as being tested by the Iran war, saying “the war against Iran is a test of the bloc’s cohesion,” and it cited Shilan Shah of Capital Economics noting that the failure of BRICS foreign ministers to issue a joint statement in May showed the difficulty of reconciling divergent positions. ABC4 Utah’s AP report added that Modi and Pezeshkian discussed regional and global issues including Middle East conflicts, and it said Modi reiterated that dialogue and diplomacy were the way forward between Russia and Ukraine while India maintained engagement with Tehran under constraints including severe U.S. sanctions and secondary penalties on businesses trading with Iran.

Reporting for this sectionAl JazeeraAl-Arabi Al-Jadeed