Iran's BRICS membership being heavily pushed by Russia, China, India: Analyst

The three biggest members of the BRICS are strongly in favor of Iran's accession to the intercontinental geopolitical bloc, senior geopolitical analyst and author Pepe Escobar has said.

"We have some serious candidates to become members of BRICS+. Iran is one of them. Iran's admission is being pushed heavily in fact, diplomatically of course, by Russia, China, and India for different reasons," Escobar told Press TV in an interview on Wednesday.

BRICS consists of Russia, China, India, Brazil, and South Africa. The BRICS countries account for 42 percent of the global population and about 27 percent of both the world's land area and the world’s economy.

The group's leaders coordinate multilateral policies and meet annually at summits. Senior officials from the group are currently attending the BRICS Business Forum, which is being hosted by South Africa.

BRICS leaders agree on expansion, set to announce guidelines

Leaders of the BRICS bloc of leading developing economies have given dozens of interested nations a path into the organization.

The bloc is expected to consider granting new memberships. Twenty countries have applied, including Iran.

Iranian President Ebrahim Raeisi is expected to participate in the ongoing BRICS meeting on Thursday.

Escobar went on by explaining the reasons behind Moscow, Beijing, and New Delhi's ongoing campaign to realize Tehran's membership of the bloc.

"Because Iran has a strategic relationship with both Russia and China, and because Iran is a key partner of the International North-South Transportation Corridor, which is Russia, Iran, and India," he noted.

'BRICS facing a hybrid war'

The bloc has become increasingly important in addressing international issues since it was founded in 2006 and is often seen as a counterweight to Western political and economic hegemony.

Its members have ruffled feathers in the West by announcing intentions towards seeking to trade in their local currencies or developing their own currency.

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Russia

Escobar warned about a full-throttle pressure campaign that had been launched by the United States and its allies against BRICS members over their pro-independence plans.

"Don't forget the hybrid war by the Empire against the current BRICS members and the future BRICS+ members is already on," he said.

"South Africa was extremely pressured before the summit...during the organizing phase of the summit," the pundit noted, referring to the ongoing BRICS summit in South Africa.

"Brazil is under severe pressure by the Americans. The Americans, of course, have Russia and China under sanctions. They're trying to get India to play a sort of Trojan horse role inside BRICS to undermine BRICS from within," Escobar observed.

The expert also noted that, as a means of mounting pressure on the BRICS or its potential future members, Washington was banking on its influence on, what he called, the "swing states."

He described those states as the ones "that they (the Americans) simply cannot allow to escape American influence," identifying them as Brazil, India, and South Africa, as well as Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey.

"So, these countries are already on different levels of hybrid war."

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