New Delhi:
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has arrived in New Delhi for a three-day official visit, marking the first high-level diplomatic engagement from Tehran since the war started in the Middle East more than two months ago. Araghchi is in India primarily to attend a two-day meeting of BRICS foreign ministers but will also hold wide-ranging bilateral talks with Foreign Minister S Jaishankar, focusing on the escalating crisis amid the US-Israel war on Iran.
“A very warm welcome to the foreign minister of Iran, Seyed Abbas Araghchi, on his arrival in New Delhi for the BRICS Foreign Ministers’ Meeting,” External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said on ‘X’.
The Iranian minister arrived aboard an aircraft named “Minab168”, a symbolic reference to the 168 girls who were killed in a missile strike at a school in the Iranian city of Minab when the war started.
What’s On Aragchi’s Agenda?
The situation surrounding the closure of the Strait of Hormuz— the vital waterway through which around a fifth of global oil supply passes in peacetime– is expected to feature prominently in bilateral talks between Araghchi and Jaishankar. New Delhi is likely to press for the safe passage of remaining merchant vessels through Hormuz, people familiar with the matter told news agency PTI.
Araghchi and other foreign ministers of the BRICS member states are also scheduled to call on Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday. The escalating crisis in the Middle East and its impact on the global energy supply chain are expected to dominate deliberations at the BRICS foreign ministers’ meeting.
What Iran Said
The Iranian deputy foreign minister, Kazem Gharibabadi, who is also in New Delhi for the BRICS meeting, said Iran’s active presence in mechanisms such as BRICS represents a strategic choice to strengthen genuine multilateralism, expand equitable cooperation, and participate in shaping a more just order in international relations.
“The BRICS foreign ministers’ meeting in New Delhi can be an important opportunity for dialogue on the future of Global South cooperation, reforming international economic governance, developing independent trade, strengthening financial and banking ties, and reducing countries’ dependence on discriminatory and unilateral mechanisms,” he said in a post on X
Gharibabadi said Iran, with its geopolitical, energy, transit, scientific, and human capacities, can play an effective role in the BRICS agenda for balanced development, economic security, regional connectivity, and amplifying the voice of independent countries.
“In this path, opposition to America’s unilateral coercive measures and their illegal and anti-development effects is an inseparable part of defending economic justice and the rights of nations to development,” he said.
About BRICS
India, as the chair of BRICS, is hosting the conclave of the foreign ministers ahead of the annual summit of the grouping in September. It will be interesting to see if the foreign ministerial conclave manages to produce a consensus statement on the conflict in West Asia.
Sharp differences among the member states over the US-Israel war on Iran stalled India’s efforts to build a consensus position on the conflict during a meeting of the grouping’s deputy foreign ministers and special envoys on the Middle East and North America last month. BRICS, originally comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, expanded in 2024 to include Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, and the UAE, with Indonesia joining in 2025.
No consensus statement on the conflict could be reached largely due to differences between the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Iran. The two neighbouring countries have sparred in recent weeks over Iran’s alleged attacks on energy infrastructure in the UAE.
After the Middle East conflict escalated, Iran urged India, as the current BRICS chair, to leverage its “independent role” to halt the US-Israel hostilities against Iran.
Global oil and gas prices have surged after Iran virtually blocked the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow shipping lane between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman that handles roughly 20 per cent of global oil and LNG (liquefied natural gas).