BRICS foreign ministers meet in India as Iran war, oil prices and divisions test the bloc's unity

NEW DELHI (AP) — Foreign ministers from the BRICS nations began a two-day meeting in New Delhi on Thursday as the expanding bloc faces divisions over the war in Iran, rising energy prices and growing global economic uncertainty.

The meeting brings together diplomats from Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa along with newer member countries. It comes as the war in Iran has disrupted global energy supplies and driven up oil prices and coincides with U.S. President Donald Trump's meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Beijing.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and Russia’s top diplomat Sergey Lavrov are attending. China is represented by Ambassador Xu Feihong while Foreign Minister Wang Yi remains in the Chinese capital during Trump’s visit.

India Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said the talks would focus on global and regional challenges and ways to deepen cooperation among member nations.

In opening remarks, Jaishankar said BRICS could help developing countries more effectively respond to the health and financing challenges they face as well as high prices for energy, food and fertilizer.

“We meet at a time of considerable flux in international relations,” he said, adding that emerging and developing countries increasingly expect BRICS to play a “constructive and stabilizing role.”

Founded by Brazil, Russia, India and China, BRICS was formed as a grouping of major emerging economies seen as a counterbalance to Western-led institutions such as the G7. South Africa joined in 2010 and the bloc expanded further in 2024 with the addition of Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates. Indonesia became a full member in 2025.

The group has sought to expand its influence by pushing for a bigger role in a global order long dominated by the United States and its Western allies. It has gained support across parts of the Global South, where many countries have criticized Western-led financial institutions.

But BRICS nations remain divided on key issues.

India and China continue to compete for regional influence, while member countries often differ in their ties with the West. Russia’s war in Ukraine has further exposed those differences.

The bloc’s expansion also has added strains. Competing regional interests have increased the difficulty of presenting a unified position.

Divisions have sharpened further during the growing conflict in the Middle East. Iran and the UAE are BRICS members despite pursuing competing interests in the region.

Iran’s deputy foreign minister said Wednesday that disagreements within BRICS over the conflict had prevented the bloc from reaching a unified position.

Kazem Gharibabadi told news agency Press Trust of India that “one member country” had pushed for language condemning Iran, complicating efforts to build consensus within the grouping.

“We want India’s BRICS chairship to be successful. It is not a good approach to send a signal to the world that the BRICS is divided. One country is insisting on condemning Iran,” Gharibabadi said.

Foreign ministers and representatives of the BRICS nations, from right, UAE's Minister of State for International Cooperation Reem Al Hashimy, Ethiopia's Minister of Foreign Affairs Gedion Timothewos, Egypt's Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty, Brazil's Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira, India's Foreign Minister S.Jaishankar, Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, South Africa's Minister of Foreign Affairs Ronald Lamola, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, Indonesia's Foreign Minister Sugiono and Chinese Ambassador to India Xu Feihong pose for a group photo during a two-day meeting in New Delhi, India, Thursday, May 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

India's Foreign Minister S.Jaishankar, right, speaks with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi as he arrives for a two-day BRICS nations meeting in New Delhi, India, Thursday, May 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

India's Foreign Minister S.Jaishankar, right, shakes hands with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi as he arrives for a two-day BRICS nations meeting in New Delhi, India, Thursday, May 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi arrives for a two-day BRICS nations Foreign Ministers meeting in New Delhi, India, Thursday, May 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

India's Foreign Minister S.Jaishankar, right, shakes hands with Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov as he arrives for a two-day BRICS nations meeting in New Delhi, India, Thursday, May 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 14, 2026--

Nuro, Inc. (“Nuro”), a leader in autonomous driving technology, today announced it is establishing operations in Germany, creating its first on-the-ground presence in Europe and extending the Nuro Driver™, its scalable Level 4 AI driver, into another major global market.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260513805828/en/

Located in the Munich area, Nuro’s Germany office will serve as the company’s European hub, supporting engineering, operations, and partner engagement. The new presence brings Nuro closer to one of the world’s most important automotive and mobility ecosystems and strengthens its ability to validate and adapt its technology for Europe.

Nuro is building a universal autonomy platform designed to support deployment across personally owned vehicles, robotaxis, and logistics. This approach reduces integration complexity, accelerates development, and establishes a consistent technical foundation across a range of vehicle applications.

Germany builds on Nuro’s growing global footprint, which already includes operations in the United States and Japan. In Japan, Nuro demonstrated zero-shot autonomy with the Nuro Driver, showing its platform could operate in a new driving environment without prior training on local driving data. That work demonstrated Nuro’s ability to adapt its technology to a new driving environment and reinforced its broader strategy to scale the Nuro Driver across global markets.

“Expanding to Germany is an important step in Nuro becoming a truly global autonomy company,” said Dave Ferguson, co-founder and co-CEO of Nuro. “We’re developing a universal Level 4 platform that can serve partners across vehicle categories and regions, and this expansion brings us closer to the partners, road conditions, and regulatory environments that will shape long-term deployment.”

Germany will introduce a broader range of road infrastructure and regulatory frameworks that will further strengthen the generalizability of the Nuro Driver. Safety remains Nuro’s highest priority, and as the company expands into Europe, it will continue its measured approach grounded in disciplined testing and close engagement with regulators, policymakers, first responders, and local communities.

About Nuro

Nuro is a physical AI company building level 4 self-driving technology that extends across vehicles, use cases, and markets. Nuro’s universal autonomy platform and generalizable AI driver, the Nuro Driver™, give the global mobility ecosystem a scalable path to full autonomy. Combining real-world deployment experience with a flexible, partner-led model, the company is working toward a future where millions of autonomous vehicles driven by Nuro help make life safer, more fulfilling, and more connected.

Nuro Expands to Germany, Establishing a European Base for Its Universal Autonomy Platform