Putin, Xi and Pezeshkian Join India for High-Stakes BRICS Summit

New Delhi will be in the global spotlight this weekend as the presidents of Iran, Russia and China convene in India for the 18th BRICS summit. The gathering arrives at a pivotal moment, with conflicts destabilizing both the Middle East and Europe and presenting the bloc with one of its most serious challenges in the 20 years since its creation.

Scheduled for Sept. 12-13, the summit takes place more than six months after war erupted between the United States and Iran, while tensions across the region are rising again. It also follows this month’s Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit, where a number of the same leaders held talks.

BRICS was formed in 2006 by Brazil, Russia, India and China. The alliance has since broadened its membership to include countries including Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Relations between Iran and India are expected to be high on the agenda. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi are likely to emphasize trade, regional connectivity, energy cooperation and developments in the wider region. Their meeting comes less than two weeks after they reaffirmed their “longstanding” strategic partnership.

As Washington intensifies its economic pressure, Tehran has sought closer relationships with Moscow and Beijing. Iran is now pursuing membership in the BRICS New Development Bank, seeking a crucial economic lifeline. With China, India, Russia and the UAE — among Iran’s largest remaining economic partners — all represented in New Delhi, the summit offers Tehran an unusual chance to engage key trading partners together as U.S. sanctions pressure increases.

China will be another central focus. President Xi Jinping is set to make his first visit to India in seven years, a high-stakes trip that represents the most significant advance yet in the cautious improvement of India-China ties since their deadly 2020 clash along the disputed Himalayan border. A Modi-Xi meeting is expected to center on preserving that normalization while widening economic engagement, making it among the summit’s most closely scrutinized side meetings.

Russia, too, will command attention. President Vladimir Putin held a pre-summit bilateral meeting with Modi on Friday, marking his first visit to India since the Ukraine war began four years ago.

Energy and defense are expected to lead discussions after the Russian president described U.S. tariffs as “illegal” and “unacceptable.”

Just earlier this week, the Kremlin touted expanding energy ties, saying India’s imports of Russian energy have reached a “new record” every month. Moscow has also said Russia understands India’s position on the war in Ukraine and that it “to a great extent corresponds” with Russia’s own position, while calling on India to facilitate a peaceful resolution.

The meeting also comes days after Putin publicly welcomed the UAE’s role in facilitating discussions over the Ukraine war, highlighting Abu Dhabi’s increasingly influential diplomatic role as another major BRICS participant.

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Saudi Arabia will also be watched after Iran-backed Houthi militia renewed attacks on its cities earlier this week.

Both the UAE and Saudi Arabia have become increasingly central to India’s Gulf strategy. The summit also comes as New Delhi attempts to navigate widening divisions between Tehran and Abu Dhabi after the UAE cut off commercial and financial dealings with Iran. The suspension has already squeezed Indian exporters, as Dubai has long served as a key commercial hub for India’s trade with Iran, giving India a direct economic incentive.

The BRICS summit will be a major test of India’s diplomatic mettle in more ways than one, as the nation finds itself balancing competing interests from Washington, Tehran, Moscow, Beijing and the Gulf while trying to forge unity among BRICS members.

“New Delhi’s leadership of BRICS is ultimately an exercise in managing contradiction. The biggest challenge is to ensure BRICS remains a platform for advancing Global South priorities rather than becoming an arena for great-power rivalry, Harsh V. Pant, vice president at Observer Research Foundation, told News Media. “New Delhi is trying to keep the focus on practical cooperation — from energy security to connectivity and development — rather than ideological confrontation.”

Building a unified position among BRICS members will be a complex task for India, especially given the sharp geopolitical divergences among member states, such as the U.S-China rivalry, the Russia-Ukraine war and tensions involving Iran, Israel and the UAE. Modi will have to balance championing his own priorities with the summit’s, as well as toeing the line to avoid an anti-U.S. tilt.

“The balancing act reflects India’s broader foreign policy, which seeks to maintain strong ties with Washington while continuing to engage Moscow, Beijing and Tehran,” Pant said.

Throughout the conflict, India has sought to position itself as a voice for dialogue while avoiding taking sides, emphasizing themes of resilience, sustainability, cooperation and innovation.

But experts warn that failure to reach consensus would expose the limits of the expanded BRICS grouping, whose broader membership has also imported longstanding regional rivalries.

Though major Western powers are absent, analysts say the alliance is not to be dismissed. Every ceasefire in this conflict has involved mediation by BRICS members or partners, and leaders gathering in New Delhi are expected to explore whether the forum can once again provide diplomatic momentum after recent attempts to revive negotiations between Washington and Tehran stalled.

“Hosting the BRICS summit in New Delhi offers India an important opportunity to demonstrate the logic of its multi-alignment at a time when global politics is becoming increasingly polarized, “Pant said. “By bringing together countries such as China, Russia, Iran and the Gulf states while simultaneously deepening its partnerships with the United States and the Quad, India is signaling that it does not accept the binary choices imposed by great-power rivalry.”

The stakes extend beyond diplomacy as disruptions from the war have disproportionately affected developing nations. India, the world’s third-largest oil importer and consumer, has already suffered energy and inflation hits. 

“The real measure of India’s success will therefore be its ability to keep BRICS sufficiently inclusive and functional to address Global South priorities while preventing geopolitical divisions from paralyzing the grouping,” Pant said.