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BRICS leaders adopted the New Delhi Declaration on the opening day of the summit after Iran and the UAE reached a last-minute compromise, with the final text calling for "maximum restraint" in the Middle East while conspicuously avoiding any direct mention of US and Israeli strikes on Iran or Iran's retaliatory strikes on Gulf neighbours including the UAE. The declaration condemned attacks on civilian infrastructure and nuclear facilities under IAEA safeguards as violations of international law — language widely read as an indirect rebuke of US and Israeli actions — and called for ceasefires in Gaza, Lebanon, Sudan, and Syria. The joint statement also demanded the elimination of unilateral sanctions not authorised by the UN Security Council, a passage seen as targeting Western measures against Russia, and made no separate reference to the war in Ukraine. On the summit's sidelines, Iranian President Pezeshkian met Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Khalid bin Mohammed, a bilateral encounter that diplomatic sources said helped unlock the compromise on declaration language.
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On the eve of the summit, Prime Minister Modi held bilateral talks with Iranian President Pezeshkian — their second meeting in as many weeks, following an August 31 encounter on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Bishkek — in which Modi stressed that all disputes must be resolved through dialogue and diplomacy. Modi specifically raised the issue of freedom of navigation and the safety of seafarers, reflecting India's direct stake in the Middle East conflict: attacks on vessels transiting the region have killed at least ten Indian nationals. India's position is complicated by overlapping relationships — historical ties with Iran, strong strategic links with Israel, and close friendships with Arab states that are home to millions of Indian migrant workers.
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Negotiators worked through Friday night attempting to finalise the summit's joint communiqué, known as the "Delhi Declaration", with diplomatic sources indicating that agreement had been reached on nearly all text except a single paragraph dealing with the conflict in the Middle East. The sticking point pits Iran — which is seeking explicit condemnation of US and Israeli actions — against fellow BRICS member the UAE, which is demanding "equal condemnation" of Iranian strikes on Emirati installations and other targets in the Gulf. The impasse mirrors difficulties at earlier BRICS ministerial meetings this year, including a May Foreign Ministers' gathering at which External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar was forced to issue a unilateral "Chair's Summary" in lieu of a consensus statement. Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is the only leader from the original four founding members absent from the summit, with Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira attending in his place as Lula focuses on his re-election campaign.
World leaders including Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping, and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian have converged on New Delhi for the 18th BRICS summit, a two-day gathering hosted by India at the Bharat Mandapam convention centre on 12–13 September. The meeting, chaired by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is set against a backdrop of acute geopolitical tensions — the ongoing war in Ukraine and the conflict in the Middle East — that risk exposing deep divisions within the now eleven-member bloc.
BRICS, which takes its name from its founding members — Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa — was established in 2009 as a forum for major emerging economies seeking a greater voice in institutions long dominated by Western powers. It expanded significantly in 2024 to include Iran, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt, and Ethiopia, and admitted Indonesia in 2025. That expansion, once celebrated as a diplomatic triumph, now presents the grouping with its sharpest internal tension. Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE — all now BRICS members — hold sharply differing positions on the Middle East conflict, and BRICS foreign ministers failed to agree on a joint statement when they met in New Delhi in May. Harsh V. Pant of India's Observer Research Foundation summed up the bind:
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