BRICS: Iran Explains Why It Joined The Alliance

Iran is among the four countries that joined the BRICS alliance in January 2024. The other three nations that joined BRICS are the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Egypt, and Ethiopia.

The first country to reject BRICS membership was Argentina as the newly-elected president Javier Milei is skeptical about the bloc. In addition, Saudi Arabia has received the invite and is yet to give its approval to join the BRICS bloc.

Among the happiest to join the BRICS group is the Middle Eastern nation Iran. Its economy succumbed to new lows as the US pressed sanctions against it for its role in sponsoring global terrorism and conflicts. Finances dried up and Iran’s economy dwindled on the global scale as allies reduced initiating global trade deals.

Iran’s Finance and Economic Affairs Minister Ehsan Khandouzi said that the country joined BRICS to bring achievements in foreign investments. The Islamic nations saw a decline in foreign funds after the US sanctions making their economy head south. The nation failed to attract an influx of foreign funds losing out on its economic potential.

Attracting foreign funds and bringing its economy out of turmoil is the reason why Iran joined BRICS, explained Khandouzi. “The government is determined to continue the inflation control policies that it had started before. Both in terms of banking, monetary and liquidity indiscipline and also in the discipline of finance and the government budget”, Khandouzi said.

“We hope that in reality, we will see the same good news for the people and the producers of the country,” he said. Apart from BRICS, Iran joined the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in 2023 forging new alliances with China. It is also extending bilateral ties with SCO member nations like Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan, among others.