BRICS Adopts New Delhi Declaration Urging Restraint Without Naming the US Strikes on Iran

The BRICS group closed its New Delhi summit with a joint statement calling for maximum restraint in the Middle East. As Dawn reported, the eleven members demanded protection of civilians, respect for sovereignty and the security of global trade routes, condemned strikes on nuclear plants as violations of international law, and called for ceasefires in Gaza, Lebanon, Sudan and Syria.

What the declaration leaves out matters as much as what it contains. Indian media reported that the text avoided any direct mention of the United States strikes on Iran or of Iranian attacks on Gulf Arab states, a compromise reached after sharp differences between Tehran and the United Arab Emirates. RT covered the final day as an expanded BRICS Plus session with Vladimir Putin, Narendra Modi and Xi Jinping seated together, an image that Moscow and Beijing want widely seen.

BBC Hindi examined the cost to New Delhi, noting that the declaration expressed concern over Israeli operations in Palestine and Lebanon and cited interim orders of the International Court of Justice in South Africa's case against Israel, language India signed despite its close defence ties with Israel.

India is simultaneously deepening its relationship with Iran. The Hindu reported that a senior Indian Shia cleric pressed Pezeshkian for expanded cooperation in trade, energy and connectivity, an agenda that includes the Chabahar port project.