Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian arrived in New Delhi, India, on Friday for a summit of the BRICS group of nations, according to photos and reporting from the gathering.
BRICS began as a grouping of major emerging economies, Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, and has expanded its membership in recent years to include a broader set of countries, among them Iran. The bloc has positioned itself as a forum for coordinating economic and diplomatic policy among its member states, alongside, though not necessarily in opposition to, existing Western-led institutions, and summits like this one give leaders a chance for direct, in-person discussions on trade, energy and broader cooperation.
Pezeshkian's attendance continues a pattern of Iranian engagement with the bloc since joining, at a moment when Iran has been seeking to diversify its diplomatic and economic relationships. For India, hosting duties of this kind offer a chance to showcase the country's growing role as a convener that can bring together a wide and sometimes diplomatically complicated range of the world's economies around a single table.
Gatherings of this kind typically combine formal sessions among heads of state with a series of bilateral meetings on the sidelines, where leaders often address specific trade, energy or security matters between their two countries directly, outside the main summit agenda.
Further details on the summit's specific outcomes and any joint statements from member states are expected in the coming days.
What is BRICS?
BRICS is a grouping of major emerging economies that began with Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa and has since expanded to include additional member countries, including Iran.