San Francisco Frontiers - Wars pose a test as India hosts BRICS summit with Russia, Iran leaders

Vladimir Putin and his Iranian counterpart, Masoud Pezeshkian, are expected to arrive in New Delhi as early as Friday, with both due to hold talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has also been invited, although his participation in the two-day BRICS meeting has yet to be confirmed by Beijing.

It would be his first visit to India since 2019 -- and would mark the biggest step yet in a cautious thaw between the rival neighbours, six years after a deadly military clash along their disputed Himalayan border.

Ties between the nuclear-armed Asian giants have been warming since a deadly 2020 border clash, with flights, visas and high-level contacts gradually being restored.

However, deep mistrust remains, with their contested frontier, a widening trade deficit and strategic rivalry still complicating ties.

"An India-China bilateral would be very important -- if it takes place," said Pradeep Taneja, a China-India expert at the University of Melbourne.

Posters of a beaming Modi line streets across New Delhi to welcome leaders, with heavy deployments of security forces across the capital and widespread traffic restrictions in central districts.

Delhi police have urged people to "stay patient, stay cooperative", with Friday declared a city holiday.

- 'Fault line' -

BRICS was created in 2009 as a forum for major emerging economies seeking greater influence in institutions dominated by Western powers.

It has since expanded and now includes Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates -- three countries with sharply differing positions on the war launched by the United States and Israel in February.

"The Gulf conflict is going to be the central fault line this time during the BRICS summit," said Harsh V. Pant of India's Observer Research Foundation.

"What was seen until last year as an achievement -- the expansion of BRICS -- today looks like a big constraint on BRICS," Pant said.

It will be Pezeshkian's first visit to India as president, and will put the Middle East conflict firmly on the agenda.

"The war in Iran will provide a stern test of the (expanded) group's cohesion," said Shilan Shah of Capital Economics, noting the failure of the BRICS foreign ministers to agree on a joint statement when they met in New Delhi in May.

India maintains cordial relations with Iran and Israel, but is also careful to strike a delicate balance in its ties with Washington.

India has navigated the energy crisis caused by the Iran war in part by turning to Russia, one of its most important strategic partners and its most controversial fuel supplier in recent years as the war with Ukraine drags on.

Putin last visited India in December 2025, but he also met Modi in Bishkek this month.

Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar visited Kyiv this month, when Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he was "grateful to India for its commitment to ending this unjust war".

Z.Phillips--SFF