Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi held talks with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Friday and underscored the need to protect the freedom of navigation and commerce, and the safety and well-being of seafarers, India’s foreign ministry said.
The talks were held on the eve of the annual summit of Brics leaders in the Indian capital, which will see the participation of Chinese President Xi Jinping and Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian, among others.
India is walking a tightrope in the conflict, boasting historical and cultural ties with Iran, strong, strategic relations with Israel and close friendships with Arab countries, where millions of its nationals live and work.
The South Asian nation has been particularly affected by attacks on vessels transiting the region, which have killed at least 10 Indians.
“The prime minister [Modi] reiterated India’s consistent position that all issues must be resolved through dialogue and diplomacy,” the ministry said in a statement.
“He also underscored the need for continued efforts to ensure lasting peace and stability in the region, safeguarding freedom of navigation and commerce, and the safety and well-being of seafarers,” it added.
This was the second meeting between the leaders in as many weeks. They last held talks on August 31, on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, where Pezeshkian told Modi that Tehran wanted a negotiated solution to its conflict with the US.
New Delhi has condemned Tehran’s attacks on its Gulf neighbours, energy infrastructure in the region, and on ships that have led to the deaths of crew members but, in a surprise move at the Bishkek summit, signed a joint declaration condemning the US-Israeli military campaign against Iran and Western sanctions.
Earlier, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin began talks in New Delhi on Friday, their second meeting in two weeks, which is expected to focus on trade, energy and defence ties between the two countries, which have long been friends.
Modi and Putin were expected to discuss cooperation between the two countries in civil nuclear energy, fertilisers, defence, critical minerals, manufacturing, railways, and steel, an Indian source said.
The two leaders met on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, on August 31, where Modi told Putin that the war in Ukraine needed to end for humanity’s sake and that New Delhi would support every peace effort to stop the fighting.
India, along with China, is one of the biggest buyers of Russian oil, which is seen as helping Moscow replenish its budget since it sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine in 2022 and was hit with sweeping Western sanctions.
India has, however, sought to resist the pressure, saying its large population and economy need secure, affordable and reliable energy supplies. New Delhi has also said that the Ukraine conflict can be resolved only through dialogue and diplomacy and not by some countries stopping energy, metal or fertiliser trade with Russia.
Russia’s share of Indian crude imports rose in 2026, reaching a record 51 per cent in July, as disruptions to Middle Eastern supplies increased Indian refiners’ reliance on Russian oil. That share likely moderated in August as China stepped up Russian oil purchases, Indian media reported.
Putin visited India in December 2025 as well for the annual India-Russia summit and the two countries agreed to expand their trade and defence relationship.
Leaders from Iran were also in India for talks on Friday, ahead of a Brics summit dominated by conflict and economic challenges.
“One should engage in debate and friendship only with the virtuous, and nothing whatsoever with the unvirtuous,” Modi wrote on Friday, in a social media message in Sanskrit to welcome leaders to the 11-nation summit.
Posters of a beaming Modi line streets across New Delhi, with heavy deployments of security forces across the capital and widespread traffic restrictions.
Wars in the Middle East and Ukraine, as well as global trade turbulence and oil are expected on the agenda at the two-day annual summit that opens on Saturday, when Xi is set to arrive.
It will be Xi’s first visit to India since 2019, and marks the biggest step yet in a cautious thaw between the rival neighbours, six years after a deadly military clash along their disputed Tibetan border.
Ties between the nuclear-armed Asian giants have been warming again, with flights, visas and high-level contacts gradually being restored.
“China stands ready to work with India … by strengthening communication, enhancing cooperation, and properly handling differences,” Beijing’s foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said Friday.
Deep mistrust remains, with their contested Himalayan frontier, a widening trade deficit and strategic rivalry still complicating ties.
Dozens of Tibetans protested in New Delhi on Friday — exiles, like their Buddhist leader the Dalai Lama, who has lived in India since fleeing a Chinese crackdown in 1959 — waving placards against Xi’s visit.
Brics was created in 2009 as a forum for major emerging economies seeking greater influence in institutions dominated by Western powers.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, who arrived in New Delhi on Friday and will hold talks with Modi, said that “Brics was established to counter unilateralism”, according to Tehran’s IRNA news agency.
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