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European Oil Markets
22JUN

BRICS adopts the text May could not agree

2 min read
09:55UTC

BRICS leaders adopted the New Delhi Declaration on Saturday 12 September, calling for maximum restraint over the Middle East conflict without naming any state, after negotiators worked to roughly 4am to bridge Iranian and Emirati positions.

← Back to Hormuz opened on paper, freight said noJump to analysis ↓
EconomicDeveloping

BRICS leaders adopted the New Delhi Declaration on Saturday 12 September 2026, expressing concern over the Middle East conflict and calling for maximum restraint without naming any state 1. Negotiators worked to roughly 4am that morning to bridge Iranian and Emirati positions on The Gulf-conflict language 2. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called the final wording a relief that many doubters had thought unlikely 3.

The bloc failed at this in the spring. The BRICS foreign ministers' meeting in New Delhi on 14 and 15 May ended with no joint declaration at all, and India issued a Chair's Statement instead, citing differing views . The difference in September is a text, and the price of the text is that it identifies no belligerent.

Iran and the United Arab Emirates both sit in the room, one at war and one having cut every financial link to the other, which is the gap the drafters worked through the night to paper over. A declaration that only expresses concern and calls for restraint binds no member to anything in particular. It does put Iran's own signature under a call for maximum restraint, which sits awkwardly beside the charge Tehran's own foreign ministry levelled at Washington on 9 September, when it called the tanker strikes a war crime .

Deep Analysis

In plain English

BRICS is a bloc of large non-Western economies. It started with Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, and has since taken in more members, including both Iran and the United Arab Emirates. At its summit in New Delhi, the leaders agreed a joint statement called the New Delhi Declaration. It expresses concern about the war and calls for restraint, but it does not say which country it means, so it does not blame anyone by name. Getting there took all night. Iran and the Emirates are on opposite sides of the Gulf conflict, and both had to sign. The way to get both signatures was to write a condemnation with nobody's name in it.

Deep Analysis
Root Causes

The bloc decides by consensus, and it admitted both parties to this argument in the same expansion. Iran and the United Arab Emirates joined on 1 January 2024, which gave each of them an effective veto over any text about the Gulf.

That rule has one exit. A declaration can be specific and fail, or general and pass, and the drafters spent the night converting the first into the second.

The host carried the cost of choosing. India convened the summit and needed a document, so the pressure to produce any agreed text fell on New Delhi rather than on either disputing member.

Escalation

Sideways. The text binds no member to an action and names no party, and the value of it to Tehran is a signature line rather than a commitment from anyone else.

What could happen next?
  • Meaning

    Iran has signed a condemnation of unilateral war, which is the charge its own foreign ministry made against Washington four days earlier.

    Immediate · Assessed
  • Consequence

    A consensus bloc containing both belligerents can produce text about the Gulf, provided the text names nobody.

    Medium term · Assessed
  • Risk

    A declaration with no named party gives each signatory licence to tell its own public that the condemnation was aimed at someone else.

    Immediate · Suggested
Sources:Outlook India·TASS
Mentions:BRICS →Dmitry Peskov →Kremlin →Iran →United Arab Emirates (UAE) →New Delhi →TASS →Brazil →Emirates →Russia →Washington →Bali →India →Tehran →China →Ukraine →South Africa →
First Reported In

Update #178 · Saudi bypass hit, and Riyadh holds fire

Outlook India· 13 Sept 2026
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Causes and effects
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Pezeshkian meets Abu Dhabi's crown prince in Delhi
The Pezeshkian meeting and the declaration's Gulf language came out of the same summit.
Occurred 12 Sept 2026
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