India will host this year’s BRICS Leaders’ Summit in New Delhi on September 12-13, with the bloc trying to project unity even as the U.S.-led war on Iran has split its own membership.
The summit comes more than six months after the United States and Israel launched military strikes on Iran, a BRICS member since 2024. The conflict has effectively shut down the Strait of Hormuz, a key artery for the global oil trade, pushing crude prices above $100 a barrel.
Fellow BRICS member the United Arab Emirates, which has itself been hit by Iranian missiles since the war began, suspended all trade and financial transactions with Iran in August. Foreign policy analysts say the summit’s central test will be finding language on the Middle East crisis acceptable to both Abu Dhabi and Tehran, which would clear the way for a joint declaration.
Chinese President Xi Jinping is expected to attend, his first visit to India in seven years, alongside Russian President Vladimir Putin, Iran’s Masoud Pezeshkian, South Africa’s Cyril Ramaphosa, Egypt’s Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, Indonesia’s Prabowo Subianto and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. The UAE is expected to be represented by Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
Beyond the Middle East question, attention will also fall on bilateral meetings on the summit’s sidelines: a likely Modi-Xi meeting, their third since the two countries began easing tensions along their disputed Himalayan border last year, and scheduled India-Russia talks between Modi and Putin that are expected to focus on trade and energy cooperation.
BRICS, originally Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, has since expanded to include Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, the UAE and Indonesia as it seeks to represent a broader Global South. Analysts note that expansion has come with a cost: with new members split on major regional conflicts, reaching the bloc’s traditional consensus has become harder. Saudi Arabia continues to participate at a lower diplomatic level without formally joining.
Source: Reuters, September 10, 2026.
