Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian arrived at the annual BRICS summit in the Indian capital of New Delhi on Friday in a tense atmosphere as his country’s war with the U.S. shifts into a new phase and Tehran’s allies in Yemen threaten to expand their attacks on Saudi Arabia, another summit attendee.
Mr. Pezeshkian is expected to meet with his BRICS host, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, for a bilateral summit later Friday ahead of the conference’s formal opening on Saturday. The meeting will likely set the stage for further sessions between India’s leader and other BRICS members from the Middle East, such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
At the top of the agenda for Mr. Modi and Mr. Pezeshkian is the future of the Strait of Hormuz. India gets around 30% of its oil from exports that travel through the strait and has suffered severe economic consequences since Iran closed the waterway in March.
Mr. Pezeshkian has also openly pitched Mr. Modi and other BRICS nations on the New Development Bank and sanctions relief for Iran not based on the dollar. India isn’t likely to jump at the opportunity, however, having openly rejected turning BRICS into an anti-dollar or anti-Western project.
Similarly, the UAE and Saudi Arabia have much more to lose by backing any efforts to weaken sanctions on Iran, which has directly contributed to regional instability this year.
The UAE and Saudi Arabia, which are relatively recent additions to BRICS, are represented at the summit by Crown Prince Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed and Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan, respectively.
Saudi Arabia may use the conference to leverage its influence against Tehran, especially after the Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen scored a series of major military victories that could further threaten Riyadh’s economic position.
In remarks ahead of the conference this week, Mr. Farhan said Saudi Arabia will use “all available means” to defeat the Houthi rebels, but stopped short of directly blaming Iran. Mr. Farhan could meet on the sidelines of the summit with Mr. Pezeshkian to urge him to restrict the Houthis.
Alternatively, Mr. Farhan could meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin, a strong ally of Mr. Pezeshkian, to put further pressure on Tehran to rein in the Houthis’ attacks on shipping in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.
The strait, at the southern end of the Red Sea, has become increasingly important for Saudi Arabia this year as it shifts much of its oil exports out of the Persian Gulf following Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
But the Houthis, who control much of Yemen’s southwestern territory, have repeatedly attacked oil tankers and commercial ships attempting to travel in the waterway. Rebel forces have also captured two port towns and one island on Yemen’s western coast this week, potentially making it easier for the Houthis to strike at ships in regional waters.
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