FOREIGN ministers from the Brics bloc of nations began a two-day meeting in New Delhi today as the expanding bloc faces challenges over the war in Iran, rising energy prices and growing global economic uncertainty.

The meeting of diplomats from Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, along with newer member countries, comes as the illegal and unprovoked war launched by the United States and Israel on Brics member Iran has disrupted global energy supplies and driven up oil prices.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov are attending. China is represented by ambassador Xu Feihong, since Foreign Minister Wang Yi remains in Beijing during the visit by US President Donald Trump.

Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said the talks would focus on global and regional challenges and ways to deepen co-operation among member nations.

In opening remarks, Mr Jaishankar said Brics could help developing countries more effectively respond to the health and financing challenges they face, as well as to high prices for energy, food and fertiliser.

“We meet at a time of considerable flux in international relations,” he said, adding that emerging and developing countries increasingly expect Brics to play a “constructive and stabilising role.”

Brics was founded by Brazil, Russia, India and China as a grouping of major emerging economies. South Africa joined in 2010 and the bloc expanded further in 2024 with the addition of Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates. Indonesia became a full member last year.

The group has sought to expand its influence by pushing for a bigger role in a global order long dominated by the US and its Western allies. 

It has gained huge support across the global South, where many countries are unhappy with US interference and Western-led financial institutions.

There have been growing challenges for Brics during the conflict in the Middle East, where Iran and the UAE are bloc members despite pursuing competing interests in the region.

Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said on Wednesday that disagreements within Brics over the conflict had prevented the bloc from reaching a unified position.

He told the Press Trust of India news agency that “one member country” had pushed for language condemning Iran, complicating efforts to build consensus within the grouping.

“We want India’s Brics chairship to be successful,” Mr Gharibabadi said. “It is not a good approach to send a signal to the world that the Brics is divided. One country is insisting on condemning Iran.”