Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi is likely to visit New Delhi to attend the BRICS Foreign Ministers’ Meeting scheduled for May 14-15, according to sources in Iran who spoke to News18 India.
Iranian
sources said Tehran attaches “high importance” to BRICS and has ensured the participation of senior representatives at key BRICS meetings ever since Iran formally joined the grouping as part of its recent expansion.
The visit is expected to be diplomatically significant as it will mark Araghchi’s first visit to India since the start of the ongoing West Asia conflict, which has sharply escalated regional tensions and triggered fresh global diplomatic efforts.
Sources said Iran wants BRICS, under India’s current presidency, to play a “constructive role” amid the worsening situation in the region. The issue was also raised earlier during Araghchi’s conversation with India’s External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar in March.
According to a statement issued by the Iranian government at the time, Araghchi had stressed that platforms such as BRICS have an important role to play under the current circumstances and should contribute constructively towards maintaining regional and global stability and security.
Iran’s push for a stronger BRICS role is being viewed as diplomatically important because the grouping now includes several major global powers and influential regional players, including India, Russia, China and Iran itself. The expanded BRICS framework also includes countries such as the UAE and Saudi Arabia — nations with whom Iran has had a complicated relationship amid recent geopolitical developments and tensions linked to US military actions in the region.
The development assumes added significance as India currently holds the BRICS presidency and is preparing to host the ministerial meeting in New Delhi ahead of the larger BRICS summit later this year. Against the backdrop of the continuing West Asia crisis, Tehran’s outreach to New Delhi and its emphasis on a larger BRICS role are being seen as part of Iran’s broader diplomatic effort to engage key global stakeholders and shape the regional conversation through multilateral platforms.
