Iranian, South African Presidents and UN Chief Reach New Delhi for BRICS Summit

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres arrived in New Delhi on Friday ahead of the BRICS summit, with the Iranian leader met by Indian officials and later greeting Iranian diplomatic staff.

Ramaphosa was welcomed with a performance by dancers, while Guterres inspected a guard of honour. The summit venue was illuminated ahead of the weekend gathering.

Leaders of the BRICS nations will meet in the Indian capital as the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, along with tensions between the United States and China, test the grouping's capacity to act together.

Pezeshkian is scheduled to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi later in the day. Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping are among the leaders expected to attend.

As host, India will seek to balance its ties with China and Russia against its growing partnerships with the United States and other Western powers.

The conflicts in Iran and Ukraine are likely to bring those divisions into focus. Iran is a member of the expanded BRICS, while Russia remains one of its most influential members. China has close ties with both countries, and India maintains relations with Russia, Iran, the United States and Europe.

That diversity makes it difficult for BRICS to adopt a strong common position on major conflicts. The grouping includes countries with competing regional ambitions, among them India and China, Iran and Saudi Arabia, and Egypt and Ethiopia, as well as other nations from the Global South.

Russia's war in Ukraine has already exposed the limits of India's ability to balance competing interests. New Delhi has maintained close ties with Moscow, including through energy and defence pacts, while also deepening its strategic relationship with Washington. India has consistently called for dialogue and diplomacy rather than taking sides.

The Iran-U.S. conflict poses a similar challenge. BRICS members have differing ties with Washington and interests in the Middle East, making a unified response difficult. China and Russia have backed Iran in international forums, while India has taken a cautious approach. Saudi Arabia and the UAE have their own tensions with Tehran.

BRICS is a grouping of major emerging markets and developing countries, named after an acronym for Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. It has expanded from its original membership to include 11 countries that together represent about half the world's population and a large share of its energy, resources and economic output.