Subrahmanyam Jaishankar
India's External Affairs Minister; chaired the 14-15 May 2026 BRICS foreign ministers meeting hosting Araghchi and Lavrov.
Last refreshed: 13 May 2026 · Appears in 1 active topic
Why is India hosting Iran and Russia while Trump meets Xi, and what does Delhi want from both?
Timeline for Subrahmanyam Jaishankar
Co-hosted the BRICS foreign ministers meeting in New Delhi, providing India's diplomatic platform for Iran to build non-Western backing
Iran Conflict 2026: Araghchi flies to BRICS Delhi 14-15 May- Who is Subrahmanyam Jaishankar?
- S. Jaishankar is India's External Affairs Minister since 2019, a career diplomat and former Foreign Secretary who previously served as Indian ambassador to the US and China. He chaired the BRICS foreign ministers meeting in New Delhi on 14-15 May 2026.
- What is India's position on the Iran war in 2026?
- India has maintained strategic autonomy, continuing to buy Iranian crude while hosting Iranian and Russian foreign ministers at BRICS. Jaishankar has held four high-level calls with Iran's Araghchi since the war began and hosted him in Delhi on 14-15 May while Trump met Xi in Beijing.Source: event
- Why is India hosting Iran's foreign minister while the US pressures Iran?
- India depends on Iranian oil, has Indian seafarers on Iranian-routed tankers, and has Indian firms named in US sanctions. External Affairs Minister Jaishankar's hosting of Araghchi at BRICS Delhi reflects India's strategic autonomy doctrine — hedging across great-power blocs rather than aligning with US pressure.Source: event
Background
Subrahmanyam Jaishankar has been India's External Affairs Minister since 2019, a veteran diplomat who served as Foreign Secretary and as India's ambassador to the United States and China. On 14-15 May 2026, he chaired the BRICS foreign ministers meeting in New Delhi, a session that brought together Iran's Abbas Araghchi and Russia's Sergey Lavrov on the same two days that Donald Trump was meeting Xi Jinping in Beijing. Jaishankar has held four high-level calls with Araghchi since the Iran war began on 28 February.
India's position in the Iran conflict is shaped by three direct material interests: stable crude supply (India is one of Iran's largest oil buyers), the safety of Indian crews on Iranian-routed tankers, and Indian firms named in prior OFAC designations for trading with Iran. These interests make India a less-than-reliable conduit for US pressure on Tehran, as Jaishankar's willingness to host Araghchi on the same days as the Trump-Xi summit demonstrates. India has historically maintained strategic autonomy across great-power conflicts; the Delhi meeting is the BRICS institutional expression of that doctrine.
Jaishankar is a prolific Foreign Policy author and noted for his willingness to articulate India's Non-alignment in direct terms — his 2020 book "The India Way" argued explicitly for multipolarity and hedging across blocs. His chairing of the Delhi BRICS session gives Iran a non-Western multilateral platform at precisely the moment the US is attempting to use the Trump-Xi summit to convert China into a pressure lever on Tehran.
