The New Indian Express ·
Politics
BRICS: Last-ditch political efforts seek to bridge West Asia divide
NEW DELHI: Political-level efforts are under way to bridge differences and secure a joint statement at the BRICS summit in New Delhi this weekend, but the escalating West Asia crisis is putting that consensus-building effort under strain, with Iran and the UAE divided over the language on the war and responsibility for the conflict.
“Stakes are very high here. And we are trying at every level, including at the political level, to reach a consensus on the language of the joint statement where it deals with West Asia. These negotiations often go down to the wire,” a source familiar with the discussions said.
The immediate challenge is to find language that can accommodate Tehran’s insistence that the unilateral attack on Iran and its violation of the UN Charter be explicitly reflected, while addressing the UAE’s demand for recognition of what it describes as Iranian attacks on its sovereignty and territory.
The UAE delegation at the September 12-13 summit will be led by Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, while Saudi Arabia will be represented by Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud.
Sources said formulations referring to attacks on sovereignty, territorial integrity and violations of the UN Charter are being discussed in broader terms. Tehran, however, wants the reference to the unilateral attack and the alleged violation of the UN Charter to remain intact, rather than “being subsumed into a generic formulation,” a source pointed out.
The UAE has strongly rejected Iranian allegations concerning its role in the conflict. The UAE sees “Iranian attacks as a violation of the UN Charter and international law and allegations over its independent decision-making.”
Iran, meanwhile, has accused Gulf states of hosting US military infrastructure and facilitating American operations against it. Tehran maintains that its “retaliatory strike targets only the US military bases and American military installations wherever they are located.”
The Palestine language, by contrast, is not emerging as the major obstacle. Sources said there is “broad acceptance” of retaining the formulation from the 2025 Rio declaration describing the Gaza Strip as “an inseparable part of the Occupied Palestinian Territory” and stressing the importance of unifying Gaza and the West Bank under the Palestinian Authority.
The difficulty over West Asia is particularly significant because BRICS has traditionally managed to bridge differences and produce a leaders’ declaration. Its expansion from five members to 11, however, has brought together countries with increasingly divergent geopolitical interests.
The New Delhi summit could therefore become a crucial test of whether an expanded BRICS can convert its idea of multipolarity and Global South solidarity into a functioning consensus mechanism when geopolitical fault lines run through the grouping itself.
