Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva speaks in the course of the BRICS Summit, on the Museum of Fashionable Artwork in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on July 6, 2025.
Ricardo Moraes | Reuters
The BRICS bloc of growing nations on Sunday condemned the rise in tariffs and assaults on Iran, however shunned naming U.S. President Donald Trump. The group’s declaration, which additionally took intention at Israel’s navy actions within the Center East, additionally spared its member Russia from criticism and talked about war-torn Ukraine simply as soon as.
The 2-day summit was marked by the absence of two of its strongest members. China’s President Xi Jinping didn’t attend a BRICS summit for the primary time since he turned his nation’s chief in 2012. Russian President Vladimir Putin, who spoke by way of videoconference, continues to principally keep away from touring overseas attributable to a world arrest warrant issued after Russia invaded Ukraine.
In an oblique swipe on the U.S., the group’s declaration raised “severe considerations” concerning the rise of tariffs which it mentioned have been “inconsistent with WTO (World Commerce Group) guidelines.” The BRICS added that these restrictions “threaten to scale back world commerce, disrupt world provide chains, and introduce uncertainty.”
Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who hosted the summit, criticized NATO’s resolution to hike navy spending by 5% of GDP yearly by 2035. That sentiment was later echoed within the group’s declaration.
“It’s at all times simpler to put money into warfare than in peace,” Lula mentioned on the opening of the summit, which is scheduled to proceed on Monday.
Iran in attendance
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, who was anticipated to attend the summit earlier than the assaults on his nation in June, despatched his international minister, Abbas Araghchi, to the assembly in Rio.
The group’s declaration criticized the assaults on Iran with out mentioning the U.S. or Israel, the 2 nations that carried out them.
In his speech, Araghchi knowledgeable leaders that he had advocated for each member of the United Nations to strongly condemn Israel. He added Israel and the U.S. must be accountable for rights violations. The Iranian international minister mentioned the aftermath of the warfare “won’t be restricted” to 1 nation.
“The whole area and past shall be broken,” Araghchi mentioned.
BRICS leaders expressed “grave concern” for the humanitarian state of affairs in Gaza, referred to as for the discharge of all hostages, a return to the negotiating desk and reaffirmed their dedication to the two-state answer.
Later, Iran’s Araghchi acknowledged in a separate message on the messaging app Telegram that his authorities had expressed reservations concerning a two-state answer in a be aware, saying it will not work “simply because it has not labored previously.”
Additionally on Telegram, Russia’s international ministry in one other assertion named the U.S. and Israel, and condemned the “unprovoked navy strikes” in opposition to Iran.
Russian President Vladimir Putin participates within the BRICS Summit, held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, by way of videolink from Moscow, Russia, on July 6, 2025.
Mikhail Metzel | Through Reuters
Russia spared
The group’s 31-page declaration mentions Ukraine simply as soon as, whereas condemning “within the strongest phrases” current Ukrainian assaults on Russia.
“We recall our nationwide positions in regards to the battle in Ukraine as expressed within the acceptable fora, together with the U.N. Safety Council and the U.N. Common Meeting,” the group mentioned.
João Alfredo Nyegray, a world enterprise and geopolitics professor on the Pontifical Catholic College in Parana, mentioned the summit might have performed a task in displaying a substitute for an unstable world, but it surely will not achieve this.
“The withdrawal of Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and the uncertainty concerning the stage of illustration for international locations like Iran, Saudi Arabia and the UAE are confirming the issue for the BRICS to ascertain themselves as a cohesive pole of worldwide management,” Nyegray mentioned. “This second calls for high-level articulation, however we are literally seeing dispersion.”
Keep away from Trump’s tariffs
Whereas Lula advocated on Sunday for reforming Western-led world establishments, Brazil sought to keep away from changing into a goal of upper tariffs.
Trump has threatened to impose 100% tariffs in opposition to the bloc if it takes any steps to undermine the greenback. Final 12 months, on the summit hosted by Russia in Kazan, the Kremlin sought to develop alternate options to U.S.-dominated fee methods, which might enable it to dodge Western sanctions imposed after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022
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