The US-Israeli military campaign against Iran was more than another Middle Eastern conflict. It became a defining stress test for the expanded Brics (Brics+), the grouping that is frequently portrayed as the flagship political platform of the Global South and a cornerstone of an emerging multipolar order.
The war showed that the grouping – which has grown beyond its founding members Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – is neither a military alliance nor an ideological bloc. Rather, it is a flexible coalition of states whose shared dissatisfaction with Western dominance coexists with profoundly different national interests.
The conflict exposed these contradictions clearly. Iran was a target of the war, while another bloc member, the United Arab Emirates, experienced Iranian strikes on its territory. Rather than fostering solidarity, the crisis reaffirmed a familiar lesson of international politics: when sovereignty and national interests are at stake, states ultimately prioritise self-help.
This has prompted criticism that Brics+ failed its first major geopolitical test. Such criticism misunderstands the organisation’s purpose. Before asking why Brics+ failed, it is worth asking a more fundamental question: what was Brics+ designed to do?
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