NEW DELHI: The sharp differences between Iran and the United Arab Emirates over the conflict in West Asia were on full display on Thursday during the opening day of the BRICS foreign ministers’ meeting in New Delhi, indicating the challenges the bloc faces in arriving at a consensus position on the crisis.
It was learned that heated debates took place between Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Khalifa Shaheen Al Marar during the first sessions of the meeting.
As the situation seemed to deteriorate, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov intervened to calm nerves.
In his speech, Araqchi said that Iran is a victim of “illegal expansionism and incitement to war,” and urged the BRICS countries to “unequivocally condemn” what he described as violations of international law by the United States and Israel.
The Iranian Foreign Minister called on the BRICS countries to resist “Western hegemony and the sense of impunity that the United States believes it deserves.”
“Therefore, Iran calls on the BRICS member states and all responsible members of the international community to explicitly condemn the violations of international law by the United States and Israel, including their illegal aggression against Iran,” he said.
“We believe that BRICS can and must become one of the fundamental pillars in shaping a more just, balanced and humane global order; an order that force can never achieve.”
But Araghchi did not refer to the UAE in his statements.
In his statement, Al-Marar mentioned Iran and criticized Tehran for its attacks on several neighboring countries, people familiar with the matter said.
They added that shortly after, Araghchi sought to respond to the Emirati minister’s statements, referring to the UAE allowing its territory to be used by the United States to carry out attacks on Iran.
The Emirati minister responded sharply to Araghchi’s statements.
Iran and the UAE have sparred in recent weeks over Tehran’s alleged attacks on the UAE’s energy infrastructure, leading to the failure of BRICS to issue a consensual statement on the West Asian crisis.
The BRICS group operates within a framework of consensus and it will be interesting to see whether the bloc meeting can adopt a joint declaration in light of the sharp differences between two member states on this crucial issue.
BRICS, which originally included Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, expanded in 2024 to include Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates, with Indonesia joining in 2025.
The meeting hosted by India is gaining greater importance in light of the influential bloc’s struggle with the economic consequences of the West Asian crisis, especially severe interruptions in energy supplies, and Washington’s policy on trade and customs tariffs.
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