Araghchi may visit India for Brics meet next week

NEW DELHI: Iran's foreign minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi is likely to visit India for the May 14-15 Brics foreign ministers' meeting that will look to help address the situation in the West Asia region.

Amid uncertainty over his participation, Iran is learnt to have communicated to India that the visit is on the foreign minister's agenda at this stage. While Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov has already confirmed his participation, his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi will likely skip the event as his presence is required at the critical Donald Trump-Xi Jinping summit, dates for which are clashing with the Brics meeting. Araghchi's participation could be contingent on whether the fragile US-Iran ceasefire holds, as another military flare-up may alter the situation. Tehran is currently studying a 14-point US peace proposal which seeks an end to Iran's uranium enrichment programme for at least 12 years in exchange for the gradual lifting of US sanctions. Iran, however, attaches great importance to Brics, which it joined in 2024 along with Egypt, Ethiopia, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, and both Araghchi and President Masoud Pezeshkian have urged India to work towards a consensus within the grouping for a joint statement against US-Israel actions in the West Asia conflict.

India maintains though that differences between opposing parties in the conflict, mainly Iran and the UAE, have blocked all attempts to generate a consensus document. This was the reason the meeting of Brics special envoys last month ended only with a chair's statement, and not a joint declaration. Araghchi's visit will give India an opportunity to comprehensively engage with Iran on issues of concern like the LPG supply disruption. India has preferred to deal diplomatically with Iran, instead of weighing participation in any military coalition to secure the Hormuz strait.