THE BRICS group is seeking to expand and now has Iran in its sights along with five other countries.
Iran has been invited to become a member of the BRICS group of emerging economies, whose leaders are in Johannesburg, South Africa, to discuss the bloc’s expansion.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa announced on Thursday that the BRICS member states agreed to admit Iran, Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, the UAE and Saudi Arabia as new members.
The five current member states have reached a ‘consensus on the first phase of this expansion process’ and have invited the six states to become new members of the BRICS group from January 1, 2024, he said at the group’s leader’s summit in Johannesburg.
Reacting to the news, Mohammad Jamshidi, the Iranian president’s deputy chief of staff for political affairs, said Iran’s membership in BRICS is a ‘historic development’ and a ‘strategic success’ for the foreign policy of the Islamic Republic.
‘Felicitations to the Leader of Islamic Revolution (Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei) and the great nation of Iran,’ Jamshidi said via X, formerly Twitter.
Chinese President Xi Jinping said the expansion of BRICS will inject new impetus to the group’s cooperation mechanism.
This expansion has reflected BRICS’ determination for unity and cooperation, Xi said at the summit.
‘This membership expansion is historic,’ he said. ‘The expansion is also a new starting point for BRICS cooperation. It will bring new vigor to the BRICS cooperation mechanism and further strengthen the force for world peace and development.’
UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed said he appreciated the inclusion of his country as a new member of the ‘important group.’
‘We look forward to a continued commitment of cooperation for the prosperity, dignity and benefit of all nations and people around the world,’ he posted on X.
Speaking via video link at the closing news conference of the three-day summit, Russian President Vladimir Putin thanked his South African counterpart for handling the summit and for his efforts to expand the bloc.
The group was formed by and initially consisted of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, which collectively represent around 40% of the global population and a quarter of the world’s gross domestic product (GDP).
Iran was among dozens of countries that sought membership in BRICS and had submitted a formal application to join the body.
Iranian President Raisi arrived in Pretoria, South Africa’s administrative capital, on Thursday morning to attend the summit of the BRICS countries.
‘BRICS has managed to bring together independent countries with the common goal of bolstering economic cooperation and countering unilateralism,’ he said on Wednesday evening before his departure.
- Meanwile, Iran’s permanent representative to the United Nations Amir Saeid Iravani says Tehran backs the Syrian government’s demand for the complete withdrawal of ‘all illegal foreign military forces’ from the war-torn country.
Addressing a UN Security Council meeting on the situation in Syria on Wednesday, Iravani argued that the illegal presence of foreign military forces has created favourable conditions for terrorist activities within Syria.
‘The unhindered movement of terrorist groups, including Daesh, into Syrian territory, where foreign forces are illegally present, poses a serious threat to both regional and global peace and security,’ he said.
‘We support the legitimate demands of the Syrian government for the complete withdrawal of all illegal foreign military forces from Syrian territory.’
The US deployed forces and military equipment in 2014 under the pretext of fighting the Daesh (ISIS) terrorist group.
American forces have sustained their illegal presence on Syrian soil, although Damascus and its allies defeated Daesh in late 2019. Damascus maintains the deployment is meant to plunder the country’s natural resources.
The Iranian envoy also said the occupation of certain areas in the Arab country by illegal foreign forces as well as the aggressions by the Israeli regime and terrorist groups inflicted sustained suffering upon the Syrian people.
‘The Security Council must take a strong stance, condemning such egregious violations and compelling the Israeli regime to cease its aggressions and put an end to the occupation of the Syrian Golan,’ he added.
The Golan Heights have been under Israeli occupation since 1967, when the regime launched a large-scale war against the regional Arab states, including Syria.
Tel Aviv has been using the territory as a launchpad for its acts of military aggression against the Arab nation ever since. Such attacks have intensified in recent months despite the Syrian government’s warnings.
The regime has also been using the occupied territory to provide safe passage and medical treatment for the anti-Syria Takfiri terrorists, who would flee there from the Syrian military’s counter-terrorism operations.
On Monday, Israel launched airstrikes against the vicinity of the Syrian capital of Damascus, wounding a Syrian soldier and causing material damage in the area.
‘We strongly condemn the repeated aggressions and violations of Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity by the Israeli regime,’ Iravani said.
‘These reprehensible acts, like the recent terrorist attacks on Damascus and its surrounding areas on August 21st, deliberately targeting civilian infrastructure, constitute a flagrant breach of international humanitarian law and the UN Charter. They also pose a grave threat to regional peace and stability.’
- India began exploring the moon’s surface with a rover, after becoming the first country to land a spacecraft near the largely unexplored lunar south pole.
The Vikram lander made a successful landing on Wednesday making India the fourth country after Russia, the US and China to make a soft landing on the moon.
The lunar rover, called Pragyan, began exploring the moon’s surface on Thursday as part of the country’s Chandrayaan-3 mission.
‘Rover ramped down the lander and India took a walk on the moon!’ the ISRO posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Thursday.
The six-wheeled, solar-powered Pragyan rover will explore the relatively unmapped region and transmit images and scientific data over its two-week lifespan.
‘Pragyan’ — Wisdom in Sanskrit — began exploring the lunar surface hours after its landing on the moon.
Chandrayaan-3 was launched on a less-powerful rocket on July 14 and had to orbit the earth several times to gain speed, taking almost one month to reach the moon.
The successful launch comes four years after the previous Indian lunar mission failed during its final descent. The failure was seen as a huge setback for the country’s space program.
Having a comparatively low-budget space program, Chandrayaan-3 has a cost of $74.6 million — far lower than many missions from other countries.
Congratulating the team of scientists at India’s Space Research Organisation (ISRO), Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said: ‘India’s successful moon mission is not India’s alone… Our approach of one earth, one family one future is resonating across the globe… Moon’s mission is based on the same human-centric approach. So, this success belongs to all of humanity’.
In 2014, India became the first Asian nation to put a craft into orbit around Mars and plans to send a probe towards the sun in September.
ISRO is also set to launch a three-day crewed mission into Earth’s orbit by next year.
India’s space organisation also plans a joint mission with Japan to send another probe to the Moon by 2025 and an orbital mission to Venus within the next two years.
