Indian PM Narendra Modi, Iran Prez Masoud Pezeshkian to meet on the sidelines of BRICS Summit

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian are expected to meet on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in Brazil. Indian PM Modi will be in Rio de Janeiro for the BRICS summit from 6th to 7th July. Iran recently became a member of the grouping, and India backed the country's inclusion in the mega grouping, whose focus is on economic exchanges.

This will be the 1st bilateral between the two leaders since the West Asia crisis, which saw exchanges of missiles and rockets between Israel and Iran. India's key focus during the crisis was the evacuation of its nationals. Under Operation Sindhu or India, India evacuated 3,426 Indian nationals from Iran and Israel.

Iran, in a special gesture, had opened its airspace for the evacuation of Indians from Mashhad to Delhi on special flights, for which the Indian government had extended its gratitude. India's Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal last month said, "we would like to thank the Government of Iran. As you would know, we made a request and they opened their airspace for us to evacuate our nationals. We are grateful to the Government of Iran for this special gesture." Many of the evacuations also took place via land borders into Armenia and Turkmenistan.

Iran has been a close civilisational neighbour of India, and Delhi has invested heavily in Chabahar port, which helps it with connectivity to Afghanistan and Central Asia as well. In May 2024, India signed a 10-year agreement to operate a terminal, investing around $550 million, including in the Chabahar-Zahedan railway. This year, India and Iran are celebrating 75 years of diplomatic relations.