Putin Lands in New Delhi, Pezeshkian Leaves Tehran as US Sanctions Threat Hangs Over BRICS Summit Opening Saturday

Since Xi Jinping's plan to bring roughly 400 officials to New Delhi was confirmed on September 9, the run-up to this weekend's BRICS summit has moved from logistics to arrivals. Russian President Vladimir Putin landed at Palam Air Force Station in New Delhi early Friday morning, greeted by India's Minister of State for External Affairs Kirti Vardhan Singh, according to footage broadcast by Russia's RIA Novosti and reported by Al Jazeera. The Hindu noted it marks Putin's first in-person BRICS summit outside Russia since the Ukraine war began in February 2022.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian departed Tehran for New Delhi on Friday and was scheduled to arrive later in the day, according to The Hindu. This is his first visit to India as president and the first visit by an Iranian head of state in eight years, Al Jazeera reported. China's foreign ministry confirmed Friday that Beijing and India are arranging a bilateral meeting between Xi and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines, with spokesperson Mao Ning saying Xi wants to approach the relationship "from a strategic and long-term perspective." Euronews reported it would be Xi's first visit to India since 2019.

Modi's pointed social media post

Hours before the summit's official start, Modi posted a message on social media that read, in part: "With the virtuous, one may debate and share friendship; with the unvirtuous, one should have no dealings whatsoever," according to Euronews. Modi did not name who he meant. The line stands in tension with the guest list: Modi is set to host Putin, Pezeshkian and Xi, all leaders whose countries face varying degrees of Western sanctions or diplomatic isolation, within the same 48 hours.

Sanctions pressure from Washington

The summit opens as the Trump administration escalates its Iran sanctions push. Fox News reported that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has warned countries doing business with Iran they risk being cut off from the U.S. dollar system, part of what the administration calls Operation Economic Outcast. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, asked directly about Modi's August 31 meeting with Pezeshkian at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Bishkek, told Fox News' Brian Kilmeade he doesn't believe there's a trade deal between India and Iran, but added: "No country should be helping Iran evade sanctions. And if countries decide to do that, then we're going to have to sanction them too."

Council on Foreign Relations senior fellow Sadanand Dhume told Fox News that Modi's outreach to Pezeshkian was largely symbolic, aimed at a domestic audience, since "India-Iran relations have already been largely hollowed out by previous rounds of sanctions." That framing cuts against the idea that India is quietly defying Washington. Breitbart's coverage emphasized that the United Arab Emirates, a full BRICS member, cut off all trade ties with Iran this month after repeated Iranian strikes on Emirati territory tied to the broader U.S.-Iran conflict. Breitbart said this rift has already derailed multiple BRICS events this year.

A scuffle before the summit even starts

Delhi Police detained eight to ten Tibetan nationals from a tunnel near Pragati Maidan on Friday morning, The Hindu reported, without elaborating on the circumstances or charges. Pragati Maidan is the venue area for the summit. The detentions came the same day India rolled out the traffic and security lockdown already underway across central Delhi.

That lockdown is producing real friction for ordinary residents. The Independent quoted Neeraj Kumar, a Delhi autorickshaw driver of 35 years, describing how a one-kilometer trip has turned into an eight-kilometer detour under the new barricades. "The government should make proper arrangements for foreign delegates so that neither the public nor the guests should face any trouble," Kumar said.

The economic pitch underneath the politics

Away from the war talk, India used Friday's BRICS Business Forum to push its own economic agenda. Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal urged member and partner countries to link payment systems and increase trade in local currencies, telling the forum that BRICS now represents roughly a quarter of global trade and 40% of global GDP, according to The Hindu.

Analysts across the sourcing agree the bloc's cohesion is the real question mark heading into Saturday. Harsh V. Pant of India's Observer Research Foundation told AFP the Gulf conflict has turned BRICS expansion, once seen as a win, into "a big constraint." Praveen Donthi of the International Crisis Group told the Associated Press that "the Global South is not a homogeneous entity," making it unlikely the bloc issues any unified statement on Iran or Ukraine. Whether BRICS foreign ministers, who already failed to agree on a joint statement earlier this year according to Capital Economics' Shilan Shah, can produce a consensus declaration when leaders meet Saturday remains the open question hanging over New Delhi.