Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Friday that India could serve as a long-term mediator in the West Asian conflict, pointing to New Delhi’s “extensive diplomatic experience and international standing”, distinguishing it from Pakistan’s current role as a crisis mediator between the United States and Iran.
Lavrov’s statements came during a press conference in New Delhi following the BRICS foreign ministers’ meeting, which India chaired this year.
The remarks came on the same day that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was in Abu Dhabi for talks with UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, during which Modi offered India’s support for peace in West Asia and said keeping the Strait of Hormuz “free and open” is New Delhi’s top priority.
What did Lavrov say?
Lavrov acknowledged Pakistan’s active role in brokering a ceasefire between the United States (as well as Israel) and Iran earlier this month, and speaking through a Russian-English translator, he said, “Pakistan is helping to establish dialogues between the United States and Iran to resolve pressing problems. If they seek a long-term mediator, India can play this role, given its vast diplomatic experience.”
He went further, suggesting that India, as the current chair of BRICS and a major energy consumer with direct interests in regional stability, could invite Iran and the UAE to begin talks aimed at reducing hostilities between the two countries.
India has already been forced to raise fuel prices as crude oil prices rise.
“India, the BRICS chair, is directly interested in receiving oil from this region. Why don’t they offer their services so they can invite Iran, and the UAE, to begin with, to have a conversation with each other to agree on how to avoid any hostilities between the two countries?” Lavrov said.
The Russian Foreign Minister also claimed that some countries, whose names he did not mention, are working to deepen the divisions between Iran and its Arab neighbors, while he stressed that Moscow is seeking to achieve the opposite goal.
He said: “We need to understand the root causes of every conflict; here is the unprovoked aggression by the United States and Israel.”
India’s position on the mediation role played by its neighbor Pakistan
Lavrov’s statements came against the backdrop of clear diplomatic discomfort in New Delhi regarding how the West Asian crisis is developing. It was Pakistan, along with Turkey and Oman, that emerged as a major back channel between Washington and Tehran, culminating in the Islamabad talks of April 11-12, where US Vice President J.D. Vance and Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf held high-level direct talks.
India’s response to this development was accompanied by disdain for Pakistan. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, in an all-party meeting on March 25, described Pakistan’s mediation role using the Hindi word “dalal” – meaning mediator or intermediary – a term widely interpreted as dismissive.
But Opposition Leader Rahul Gandhi described it as a failure of Modi’s policy. He said Pakistan’s growing diplomatic visibility was a direct result of the Modi government’s flawed foreign policy.
India’s handling of the crisis was not without complications. The Iranian frigate Iris Dina, which participated as an invited guest in the Indian naval exercises Milan 2026 in Visakhapatnam, was sunk by a US submarine in the Indian Ocean on March 4. This incident has raised uncomfortable questions about India’s credibility as a net security provider in its maritime neighbourhood.
But New Delhi was not completely absent from diplomatic engagement either. On Thursday, on the sidelines of the BRICS ministerial meeting in New Delhi, Prime Minister Modi met Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, a major engagement with Tehran since the war began on February 28. Modi met Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov in the same meeting.
India’s official position was neutral, calling for dialogue and diplomacy, demanding unhindered navigation through the Strait of Hormuz, and avoiding direct blame on Iran or the US-Israeli alliance. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs welcomed the ceasefire reached on April 8 and called for an early end to the conflict.
However, Prime Minister Modi had visited Israel in late February 2026, just days before the attacks were launched, and the trip sparked sharp criticism at home when the US-Israeli air campaign against Iran began on February 28. However, Iran referred to India as a friend.
