President Droupadi Murmu held talks with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian at Rashtrapati Bhavan on Saturday, adding a further layer of high-level diplomacy to Pezeshkian’s first visit to India, undertaken to attend the 18th BRICS Summit in the national capital.
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Murmu received Pezeshkian at the presidential palace on Saturday, a day after the Iranian leader landed in New Delhi to take part in the two-day BRICS gathering.
Pezeshkian had been received on arrival at the airport by Union Minister of State Shantanu Thakur, with India’s Ministry of External Affairs welcoming him on social media by noting that India and Iran share civilisational ties, marked by robust cultural and people-to-people bonds, and describing the two countries as BRICS partners working towards shared progress and prosperity.
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Saturday’s presidential meeting followed a separate bilateral held a day earlier between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Pezeshkian, continuing conversations the two leaders began on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Bishkek.
According to the Ministry of External Affairs, PM Modi used the meeting to thank Iran for its regular, high-level participation in BRICS-related engagements despite what officials described as challenging circumstances, and separately thanked Pezeshkian for taking part in the Leaders’ Session of the BRICS Business Forum earlier in the week.
Modi also spoke of the bloc’s potential to build resilience, innovation, cooperation and sustainability among nations of the Global South, tying the bilateral discussion directly to the summit’s broader themes.
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Writing on social media platform X after the talks, Prime Minister framed the engagement as a continuation of earlier diplomacy, saying, “From Bishkek to Delhi, the productive discussions continue.”
He went on to describe the visit as especially significant given that it marked Pezeshkian’s first trip to India, adding that the two leaders had discussed the broader India-Iran relationship and agreed on the value of pursuing what he called a long-term and win-win partnership going forward.
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Beyond bilateral ties, the two leaders used their discussions to exchange views on the ongoing conflict in West Asia, a subject that has coloured much of this year’s diplomatic calendar for both countries.
According to the Ministry of External Affairs, Modi reiterated India’s consistent position that all outstanding issues in the region must be resolved through dialogue and diplomacy rather than military means, while stressing the need for continued efforts to secure lasting peace and stability.
He specifically raised the importance of safeguarding freedom of navigation and commerce, along with the safety and well-being of seafarers, an issue that has grown more pressing for India given its reliance on shipping routes running through waters affected by the wider regional conflict.
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Iran’s presence at this year’s BRICS gathering rests on several distinct tracks of engagement, only one of which has to do with the war shadowing Tehran’s foreign policy this year. According to India’s Ministry of External Affairs, Pezeshkian’s participation has centred on the Leaders’ Session of the BRICS Business Forum, where Modi thanked him directly for taking part despite what officials described as challenging circumstances facing Iran.
Alongside that economic track, Tehran’s bilateral discussions with both Modi and Murmu have focused on deepening a relationship the two governments have described as civilisational, built on trade, cultural exchange and long-term strategic cooperation, with Modi specifically framing the relationship as one both sides want to develop on a long-term, win-win basis.
Running alongside that agenda is the more pressing question of West Asia’s security, an issue India has approached carefully given its interests on both sides of the region’s fault lines. Modi used his meetings with Pezeshkian to reiterate that all outstanding issues in the region should be resolved through dialogue and diplomacy rather than force, while raising specific concerns about freedom of navigation and the safety of seafarers, a subject of direct relevance to Indian shipping and trade routes running through waters affected by the conflict.
For Iran, holding a full seat at BRICS since its 2024 accession gives Tehran a platform to press these concerns collectively with fellow member states, even as the bloc’s own members remain divided over how forcefully to address the war shaping much of this year’s summit agenda.
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The talks also touched on Iran’s standing within BRICS itself, with Modi expressing appreciation for continued cooperation between New Delhi and Tehran across multilateral organisations, including the bloc. Iran joined BRICS as a full member in January 2024 as part of a wider expansion that also brought in Egypt, Ethiopia, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, transforming what was once a five-nation grouping into an 11-member bloc with a far broader geopolitical footprint.
Pezeshkian’s presence in New Delhi this weekend, alongside separate meetings with both Modi and Murmu, underscores how central Iran has become to India’s efforts to balance its ties across the Global South even as the country remains at the centre of one of the world’s most closely watched conflicts.
