The way Brics responds to the US and Israel's war on Iran, a permanent member, will have repercussions for how the group is perceived and understood - not only by its own members, but the whole world going forward, analysts have told Middle East Eye.

And so far, the signs are far from encouraging.

With more than three days since Israel killed Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as well as more than 550 others - including at least 165 children - the bloc, touted as a leader of the Global South, is nowhere to be found.

Iran, a permanent member of the grouping of 11 countries, joined Brics in 2024, when it comprised only the core members Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa.

Whereas every member of the original core - besides India - has released individual statements either condemning or raising concerns about the killing of Khamenei, the bloc itself has yet to utter a word as a collective.

"Modi was basically in Israel, hugging Netanyahu and making it very clear that, seemingly, there's a much stronger solidarity or kinship between these two leaders, and this is going to extend officially into the respective bilateral relations, officially," Priyal Singh, a senior researcher at the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) in Pretoria, told MEE.

Singh said that India's closeness to Israel, as well as Iran's retaliatory attacks on the UAE, in particular, has likely made it even harder for Brics to reach a place of consensus.

BRICS has expanded to 20 countries – 10 members and 10 partners – after adding Vietnam. BRICS+ now makes up 44% of world GDP (PPP) and 56% of the global population. The US failed to divide China and Vietnam in its Second Cold War.

The 10 BRICS members are Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran, and the United Arab Emirates.

The 10 BRICS partners are Belarus, Bolivia, Cuba, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Nigeria, Thailand, Uganda, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam.

The BRICS 20 have a combined population of 4.45 billion, out of a global population of 8.01 billion in 2025, based on IMF data.^[[1] https://geopoliticaleconomy.com/2025/07/04/brics-expansion-population-gdp-vietnam/]

As one of the core members of Brics, Delhi has been foundational to the development of the collective.

It has also leveraged its decade-old position in the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) and now Brics, as well as its proximity to western powers through its growing economy, to stake a claim as a leader of the Global South and an interlocutor with the West.

But under Modi, India has increasingly moved closer to the US, with observers noting that Delhi has sought to clarify that it sees Brics as an economic rather than a geopolitical project.

Delhi has also been seen as insistent on both slowing the expansion of Brics as a means to halt Chinese influence over new members already within its sphere of influence and, therefore, temper what is being interpreted as a group geared to take on western hegemony.

Whereas there has been significant talk of Brics launching its own currency to replace the US dollar, India has shown it has no interest in doing so, opting instead to champion trade among Brics members via their national currencies.

India has also sent weapons to Israel for its war on Gaza, including combat drones and AI weapons, construction workers to replace Palestinian workers, and has refused to endorse an arms embargo on Israel.

Delhi's role has even prompted some observers to advise Washington to consider the Brics as a partner instead of an adversary.

"For some countries, notably South Africa, Brics is also seen as a critical foreign policy component in advancing its ‘South-South’ agenda, which aims to develop deeper bilateral relations with countries from the Global South based on common values and shared historical experiences," Singh adds.

But Singh acknowledges that this agenda has struggled to take shape, by his estimate, because of the inclusion of new initiatives that have detracted from what he describes as the core effort of refining a common agenda towards tackling the international governance system and international financial institutions.