BRICS nations call for 'maximum restraint' in Middle East war

Members of the 11-nation BRICS group including China, Russia, Iran and India called for calm in the Middle East at a summit in New Delhi on Saturday, overcoming earlier divisions to issue a joint statement. Chinese President Xi Jinping, who joined Russian, Iranian, Indian and other leaders in India’s capital, told the summit that the Middle East war “does not serve the common interests of the international community”. Foreign ministers of the BRICS grouping had failed to agree on a joint statement when they met in New Delhi in May, with Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates divided over the war that began with US-Israeli strikes on February 28. But leaders issued a statement on Saturday after intense diplomatic efforts by host India, as the bloc seeks to bolster its global influence and address conflict, trade turbulence and energy security.

“We express deep concern over the continued escalation of tensions in Middle East/West Asia,” the joint statement said, adding the countries “call for exercising maximum restraint, as well as avoiding actions that could further aggravate the situation”. “We have to transform this pyramid of privilege into a platform of partnership,” Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi told Xi, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and other leaders as he opened the two-day summit. Modi said BRICS nations “represent 50 percent of the world’s population, 40 percent of global GDP and more than 25 percent of global trade”. But finding balance in the bloc is a tough diplomatic task. India maintains cordial relations with both Iran and US ally Israel, but is also careful to strike a delicate balance in its ties with Washington. Iran’s Pezeshkian attended the summit shortly after warning that the Middle East does…