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

The eleven-member bloc condemned attacks on nuclear facilities as breaches of international law and demanded protection of global trade routes, after India bridged a dispute between Tehran and the United Arab Emirates.

- Published: 2026-09-13T05:20:55.617Z
- Canonical: https://polylog.news/2026-09-13/brics-adopts-new-delhi-declaration-urging-restraint-without
- Publisher: Polylog (Global desk)
- Section: geopolitics
- Sources: [Dawn](https://www.dawn.com/news/2029557/brics-urges-maximum-restraint-in-mideast), [RT](https://www.rt.com/news/645620-putin-modi-and-xi-join-brics/), [BBC News Hindi](https://www.bbc.com/hindi/articles/cy7ze2nd7zno), [The Hindu](https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/up-top-shia-leader-pushes-for-stronger-india-iran-ties-in-meeting-with-president-pezeshkian/article71460722.ece</source)

The BRICS group closed its New Delhi summit with a joint statement calling for maximum restraint in the Middle East. As [Dawn reported](https://www.dawn.com/news/2029557/brics-urges-maximum-restraint-in-mideast), 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](https://www.rt.com/news/645620-putin-modi-and-xi-join-brics/) 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](https://www.bbc.com/hindi/articles/cy7ze2nd7zno), 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](https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/up-top-shia-leader-pushes-for-stronger-india-iran-ties-in-meeting-with-president-pezeshkian/article71460722.ece</source") that a senior Indian Shia cleric pressed Pezeshkian for expanded cooperation in trade, energy and connectivity, an agenda that includes the Chabahar port project.

## What this means

BRICS produced consensus language by removing the specific accusations its members disagree on, which shows the bloc can coordinate on principles such as trade-route security while remaining unable to arbitrate a war among its own members and partners. For investors the practical content is the shared interest in keeping oil and goods moving and in settling trade outside Western financial channels, an agenda that advances through ports, payment arrangements and energy contracts rather than through communiques. India gains the most immediate leverage, since it buys Gulf crude and needs both Tehran and Washington to tolerate its position.

## What to watch

- Whether India and Iran announce concrete Chabahar investment or rupee-denominated energy settlement, which would convert summit language into a working payment channel outside the dollar.
- How Gulf members respond to the omission of Iranian attacks on their territory, an early test of whether BRICS expansion has increased its influence or simply increased its internal deadlock.
- Any BRICS follow-up on protecting shipping lanes, since a joint naval or insurance arrangement would be the first case of the bloc supplying a service the West now supplies.