New Delhi, Sep 12: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday shared moments of warm camaraderie with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping, as the three leaders were seen holding hands and exchanging smiles during the BRICS Summit at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi.

Sharing the sidelights on his X, PM Modi posted: “BRICS Summit 2026 gets underway in Delhi”.

The visuals and photographs echoed a similar display of camaraderie between PM Modi, Putin, and Xi during the 26th Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit held in Bishkek last month, where the three leaders smiled and shook hands on August 31. The moment unfolded during the official family photograph, an established tradition at the annual SCO gathering.

The 2025 SCO Plus Summit in Tianjin on August 31-September 1 had also produced several notable visuals of the three leaders. PM Modi’s embrace with Putin, his walk alongside Xi and Putin, and his interactions with both leaders highlighted the personal bonhomie shared between the top leaders.

The latest visuals from New Delhi came after PM Modi welcomed BRICS leaders at Bharat Mandapam, the venue for the 18th BRICS Summit.

PM Modi warmly received President Putin, President Xi Jinping, Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and other leaders at the Bharat Mandapam ahead of the Summit.

India is hosting the 18th BRICS Summit at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi on Saturday and Sunday (September 12-13), bringing together leaders from BRICS member and partner countries, along with outreach invitees.

India’s BRICS Chairship is guided by the theme: ‘Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability’, reflecting Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of a people-centric approach rooted in the spirit of ‘Humanity First’, according to the statement released by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).

In his welcome remarks at the opening BRICS session on ‘Inclusive Global Governance and Strengthening Multilateralism’ in New Delhi on Saturday, PM Modi extended a warm welcome to BRICS leaders and said that India’s BRICS chairship is based on a people-centric and humanity-first approach.

“Resilience, innovation, cooperation, and sustainability have been our priorities. Alongside these priorities, we have placed special emphasis on connecting BRICS cooperation with the common people. With this vision in mind, more than 350 meetings were organised. We had the opportunity to welcome your teams to approximately 30 cities,” highlighted PM Modi.

He emphasised that BRICS has established a distinct identity on the global stage and said that the bloc is not against anyone and must work to move forward with the approach of taking everyone along. He called for the establishment of a ‘BRICS Continuity and Implementation’ mechanism.

Baghdad, Sep 12: Ali al-Zaidi, Iraq’s Prime Minister and Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces, dismissed the Maysan Operations Commander on Saturday after authorities confirmed attacks targeting Saudi Arabia had been launched from a site in Maysan province in southern Iraq.

Al-Zaidi also ordered an investigation into the Maysan Operations Command by forming a special investigative council, Sabah al-Numan, spokesman for the commander-in-chief of the Iraqi forces, said in a statement.

The move came after the Iraqi government late Friday condemned the attacks on Saudi Arabia, saying it rejected “any aggression that threatens the Kingdom’s security and stability,” Xinhua News Agency reported.

The Iraqi government appreciated Saudi Arabia’s response to Baghdad’s efforts to contain the situation, Al-Numan said. “The state will not tolerate any activity that endangers Iraq or its relations with brotherly and friendly countries.”

Iraq also reaffirmed that its territory and airspace would “not be used as a launching point for attacks against any country,” and that its policy is based on respecting the sovereignty of states.

The Saudi Foreign Ministry said Friday that its East-West Pipeline was attacked by several drones launched from Iraq, causing injuries and damage.

Condemning the attacks in a statement, the ministry noted that at the request of the Iraqi prime minister, the kingdom had refrained from responding at this stage.

Saudi Arabia has invested heavily in the East-West Pipeline, which carries crude oil from its eastern fields to the Red Sea port of Yanbu, bypassing the Strait of Hormuz.

In July, US and Saudi Arabian forces carried out precision airstrikes against Iran-aligned groups in eastern Iraq (local time) after more than 30 drone attacks targeted American troops and Saudi energy infrastructure, the US Central Command said.

US and Saudi fighter aircraft struck several logistics and weapons sites used by the groups, according to CENTCOM. It described the operation as a response to aerial attacks conducted over the previous 72 hours under the direction of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

“The unwarranted attacks against US forces were not successful,” CENTCOM said.

New Delhi, Sep 12: In a “major diplomatic breakthrough”, despite sharply divergent geopolitical positions among members, BRICS countries have reached consensus on a Joint Statement which is expected to be released later on Saturday on the first day of the 18th BRICS Summit being hosted by India at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi.

According to sources, India led sustained consultations and intensive negotiations from Friday till as late as 4 AM Saturday, making efforts to bridge competing positions and build consensus among members.

“The negotiations saw differences on several contentious issues. India led sustained consultations to bridge competing positions and build consensus among members. The breakthrough assumes particular significance given that Iran, Saudi Arabia and the UAE are all part of the same forum, despite deep differences and competing positions on several regional and geopolitical issues,” a source mentioned.

“Against the backdrop of ongoing conflicts and heightened tensions in West Asia, securing consensus among countries such as Iran, Saudi Arabia and the UAE presented a particularly complex diplomatic challenge. India’s diplomatic prowess ensured that these differences did not derail the BRICS process, paving the way for a consensus Joint Statement despite sharply divergent geopolitical positions among member countries,” the source added.

Experts continue to hail India’s BRICS chairship considering how New Delhi has successfully navigated historic BRICS deadlock amid ongoing global conflicts.

Amid escalating tensions between Iran and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the BRICS ministerial summit held in the national capital in May concluded without issuing a customary joint statement for the first time in the bloc’s history.

Instead, India had released only a Chair’s Statement and Outcome Document after deep divisions between Iran and the UAE prevented consensus among member nations.

All this while, India and Prime Minister Narendra Modi have backed pursuing dialogue and diplomacy to resolve conflicts while highlighting at the same time that this is not an era of war and solution will not emerge from the battlefield.

At the same time, just like it during its G20 Presidency, BRICS chair India batted strongly to push interests of the Global South without turning the grouping anti-West.

“BRICS is also where India’s balancing act faces its toughest test. It remains contested terrain. The expansion of the grouping, resisted by both India and Brazil, has made consensus harder. Beneath the larger membership lies a familiar divide: India and Brazil largely see BRICS as an economic platform, while China and Russia see it as a geopolitical one,” a recent report in Australia-based ‘The Interpreter’ detailed.

It noted that India views itself as a reformist power rather than a revisionist one, pushing for a greater role in global governance, a permanent seat on the UN Security Council, and more influence over financial and technological rulemaking. It seeks to alter parts of the international order while preserving a system that has been central to its own rise.