At BRICS Delhi meet, Iran takes 'an empire in decline' jibe at US

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Thursday launched a sharp attack on the United States at the BRICS Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Delhi, accusing Washington of “bullying” and warning against what he described as the behaviour of “empires in decline”.

Addressing representatives from BRICS nations, Araghchi said countries across the world were increasingly recognising that “regional instability is a lose-lose proposition for all sides, including the aggressors.”

“Those who pursue reckless adventures may believe it furthers their geopolitical interests. But as consumers and governments around the world now sense and understand, regional instability is a lose-lose proposition for all sides, including the aggressors,” he said.

The Iranian minister said Tehran’s resistance against “US bullying” was a struggle many countries in the room could relate to.

“To virtually everyone in this room, our resistance against US bullying is not an unfamiliar battle. So many of us encounter slight variations of the same repugnant coercion,” Araghchi said.

Calling for closer coordination among BRICS members, he said it was “high time” for countries to work together and make it clear that such practices “belong in the dustbin of history”.

Araghchi also appeared to take a direct swipe at Washington by referring to declining empires.

“History has shown that empires in decline will stop at nothing to arrest their inevitable fates. A wounded animal will desperately claw and roar on its way down,” he said.

Araghchi also urged BRICS nations to explicitly condemn what he called violations of international law by the US and Israel, including their “illegal aggression against Iran”. The Iranian foreign minister described the ongoing conflict as “illegal expansionism and warmongering” and said Tehran remained open to diplomacy while being prepared to defend itself “with all available means”.

“Iran therefore calls upon BRICS member states and all responsible members of the international community to explicitly condemn violations of international law by the United States and Israel,” he said.

His remarks come amid heightened tensions between Iran and the US after over two months of conflict in the Middle East.

The war, which began on February 28, has triggered heightened geopolitical tensions and a global energy crisis. The effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a key route handling nearly a fifth of global oil shipments, has disrupted supplies and pushed crude prices sharply higher, fuelling fears of inflation and an economic slowdown.

In his opening remarks at the meeting, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar struck a cautious note, stressing the importance of stability and uninterrupted maritime trade routes, including through the Strait of Hormuz and the Red Sea.

“The conflict in West Asia merits particular attention,” Jaishankar said, while also raising concerns over the increasing use of unilateral sanctions that disproportionately affect developing countries. He said emerging economies expected BRICS to play a “constructive and stabilising role” amid rising geopolitical and economic uncertainty.

The meeting of the Foreign Ministers of BRICS countries is being held in New Delhi on May 14-15. India holds the rotating presidency of the 10-member BRICS bloc. The group, originally comprising Brazil, Russia, India and China, later added South Africa and more recently expanded to include Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran and the UAE.