Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian called on BRICS countries to create an environment in which no country could obstruct the legitimate trade of another.
Speaking at the 18th BRICS Leaders’ Summit held Friday in New Delhi, the capital of India, Pezeshkian said the increasing use of economic tools to exert pressure was putting countries’ legitimate trade at risk. He said the response BRICS would provide to these problems was important.
Economic pressure on Iran
Pezeshkian said Iran had faced comprehensive sanctions in recent years and that economic pressure had entered a more dangerous phase following developments he described as attacks by the United States and Israel.
Arguing that this situation had also revealed an important reality alongside the loss of life and property, Pezeshkian said economic security could not be considered separately from national and regional security. He noted that political or military pressure targeting a country’s trade, energy, infrastructure or financial system could affect regional stability and the global economy.
Call for trade in national currencies
Pezeshkian said BRICS’ strength would become more visible by moving from potential cooperation to operational cooperation, and called for expanding the use of national currencies in trade among member countries.
BRICS was established in 2006 as an economic grouping comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Ethiopia and Iran later joined the grouping. Indonesia’s inclusion in the grouping was also announced at the beginning of 2025.
Pezeshkian said Iran was ready to assume a strategic partner role in the energy and transportation supply chains within BRICS. The Iranian president also said his country was ready to work with BRICS members to build a more open and fair economy.
