Iran’s Strikes On The UAE Exposed The Limits Of BRICS Unity

Iran and the UAE have polar opposite security interests vis-à-vis the US, while India took the UAE’s side over Iran’s arguably due to its nearly 100x greater trade with the Emirates than with the Islamic Republic, all of which proves that BRICS was never a security bloc despite years of false claims to the contrary.

Iran has carried out multiple strikes against targets in the UAE over the past several days since the start of the joint US-Israeli campaign against it. Iran claims to be acting in self-defense due to US military infrastructure in the UAE allegedly playing a role in attacks against it. Iran’s online defenders have also alleged that its attacks against apartments and hotels in the UAE targeted US military personnel that are clandestinely staying there for their safety due to predictable Iranian strikes against their bases there.

Whatever the truth may be, there’s no denying that Iran has attacked military and (at least officially) civilian sites in the UAE, which is its fellow BRICS member. Likewise, Indian Prime Minister Modi, whose country chairs BRICS this year, posted on X that he “Strongly condemned the attacks on the UAE” without naming Iran but in obvious reference to it. For background, Indian-Emirati trade reached $100 billion last year, while Indian-Iranian trade was a little more than 1% of that at around $1.5 billion.

Nevertheless, Iran plays an irreplaceable transit role for India along the North-South Transport Corridor with Russia, Afghanistan, and Central Asia, but Trump’s threat to impose 25% tariffs on any country that does business with Iran could complicate this after the Indo-US trade deal if he can still legally impose them. Accordingly, India’s nearly 100x larger trade with the UAE and the deterrence effect of Trump’s aforesaid threatened tariffs explain why Modi took the UAE’s side over Iran’s, which makes sense.

Although this is another perceptible example of India aligning with some of the US’ interests, top Russian expert Fyodor Lukyanov argued in response to its reduced import of Russian oil under US pressure that “Sovereignty does not necessarily mean refusing to bend under pressure; it means finding ways to realize one’s interests under less-than-ideal conditions. The core of those interests is internal stability and continued development, priorities that have become even more urgent amid global turbulence.”

He then concluded that “This is the practical reality of what is often called a multipolar world…look after your own first”, and that’s what India is doing. The same goes for the UAE with respect to its continued military alliance with the US regardless of whether or not the US’ military infrastructure there played a role in its attacks against Iran like Tehran alleges. Iran is also “looking after [its] own first” as its leaders understand their national interests to be no matter one’s opinion about its strikes against the UAE.

The polar opposite interests of BRICS members Iran and the UAE in this respect, as well as BRICS chair India’s decision to support the UAE over Iran, expose the limits of BRICS unity. Last month, “Russia’s BRICS Sherpa Debunked Speculation About It Turning Into A Security Bloc”, which was long-overdue since top Alt-Media influencers have misportrayed the group in such a way over the years. Even Putin’s spokesman just had to clarify that it’s not a security bloc due to the prevalence of this misperception.

The reality is that BRICS has always only ever been a group whose members voluntarily coordinate policies for accelerating financial multipolarity processes, never anything more nor is it likely to ever become more in a meaningful sense, not least because it now includes three pairs of rivals. These are China-India, Egypt-Ethiopia, and Iran-UAE, none of which is going to sacrifice its perceived security and trade interests in support of another as was just respectively proven by the UAE and India vis-à-vis Iran.