Iran has requested to join the BRICS club of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, which Beijing and Moscow see as a formidable developing market alternative to the West.
Goldman Sachs economist Jim O’Neill developed the term BRIC in 2001 to characterize the remarkable ascent of Brazil, Russia, India, and China. The BRIC countries met for the first time in 2009 in Russia. South Africa became a member in 2010.
Iran’s inclusion in the BRICS group “would result in additional benefits for both parties,” according to a representative for the Iranian Foreign Ministry. Argentina, according to Russia, has also sought to join.
Russia saw the applications as proof that the West, headed by the United States, had failed to isolate Moscow after the invasion of Ukraine.
“While the White House was considering what else to switch off in the globe, prohibit or spoil,” claimed Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova, Argentina and Iran requested to join the BRICS.
Argentina’s authorities could not be contacted for a quick comment, although President Alberto Fernandez, who is now in Europe, has recently repeated Argentina’s ambition to join BRICS.
China is by far the biggest economy in the BRICS grouping, accounting for more than 70% of the group’s total economic strength of $27.5 trillion. According to IMF figures, India contributes around 13%, with Russia and Brazil each contributing for approximately 7%.
BRICS countries account for more than 40% of the world’s population and around 26% of the global GDP.
Since the 1979 Iranian Revolution deposed the US-backed Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, Iran has been isolated by the West and its economy has been ravaged by a slew of sanctions. It controls almost one-quarter of the Middle East’s oil reserves.
CHINESE POWER
Last week, Chinese President Xi Jinping convened a virtual meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin and other BRICS leaders.
Xi criticized “the misuse” of international sanctions, while Putin chastised the West for inciting a global crisis, with both presidents advocating for further BRICS collaboration.
Putin has said that ties with China are the greatest they have ever been, and he has emphasized strategic cooperation with China to counter US dominance.
According to US President Joe Biden, the West is at odds with authoritarian regimes such as China and Russia.
The United States and European countries blame Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine for the deterioration of ties with the West, which has included the harshest sanctions in recent history.
But Putin claims that the West intends to destroy Russia, that the economic sanctions are a declaration of economic war, and that Russia will strengthen connections with other states such as China, India, and Middle Eastern powers.
Putin, who describes the Ukraine conflict as a “special military operation,” accuses the US of humiliating Russia in the wake of the Soviet Union’s demise in 1991 and endangering Moscow by strengthening the NATO military alliance.
On February 24, Russia dispatched soldiers into Ukraine to impair its southern neighbor’s military capabilities, apprehend “dangerous nationalists,” and safeguard Russian speakers in two eastern Ukrainian districts.
Ukraine claims that Russia has begun an imperial-style land grab and that it would never give up its territories to Russia.
