New Delhi: Even as Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi described India as a “friend of Iran”, Tehran has urged New Delhi that BRICS, which India currently chairs, should play a “strong” and “constructive” role in addressing the escalating West Asia conflict that has disrupted global energy and shipping routes.The issue was raised during a phone conversation between Pezeshkian and Modi late on Thursday, March 12, according to an Iranian readout of the call.The same demand was made in a separate call the same night between Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi and External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, their fourth since the conflict began on February 28.Jaishankar confirmed the exchange in a post on X this afternoon, saying the two had “discussed bilateral matters as also BRICS related issues.” The call had not been publicly announced before his post.Iran’s readout of the leaders’ call, published by state-run Mehr News Agency, said Pezeshkian appreciated India’s “balanced and constructive positions in the international arena and its efforts to reduce tensions.”He said Iran “did not initiate the war and has no desire to continue it,” but had targeted US military bases in the region in exercise of its “legitimate right of self-defence.”In his remarks during the call, according to the Iranian statement, Modi expressed concern over the escalating tensions in the region and reiterated that India considers itself a “friend of Iran”. He also said New Delhi would make “maximum effort” to advance diplomacy, noting that escalation of conflict would not serve the interests of any party.Despite what he described as attacks on Iranian infrastructure, Pezeshkian said Tehran remained committed to expanding cooperation with India through frameworks including BRICS and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, and “stressed the need for BRICS to play an active role in safeguarding peace, stability, and security in the region.”According to Tehran’s account, Iranian foreign minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi stressed that regional and international organisations should condemn the military action against Iran and underlined the importance of BRICS as a forum for multilateral cooperation. The Iranian foreign minister said the grouping should play a “constructive role” in supporting regional and global stability.Their previous exchange, on March 10, had focused on the situation in Hormuz, where India has over two dozen ships waiting for passage. Under India’s BRICS chairmanship, the bloc has not issued any joint statement on the current conflict. BRICSThis stands in contrast to last year, when BRICS under the Brazilian chairmanship issued two statements on the June 2025 US-Israeli strikes on Iran. The first, a standalone joint statement issued on June 25 during the 12-day war, expressed “grave concern over the military strikes against the Islamic Republic of Iran since June 13, 2025, which constitute a violation of international law and the Charter of the United Nations.” India was a signatory and did not distance itself from the statement, unlike its decision to disassociate from a Shanghai Cooperation Organisation statement that had more strongly condemned the Israeli strikes. The Rio de Janeiro July summit declaration used stronger language, with the bloc formally “condemning” the strikes and expressing “serious concern over deliberate attacks on civilian infrastructure and peaceful nuclear facilities.” Neither statement named the United States or Israel.Official sources claimed that behind the scenes, there have bene moves to have a common position in BRICS, with senior officials having met virtually as recent as Thursday. However, so far, the exercise has been unsuccessful as member nations were also involved in the conflict, stated Indian government officials.The expanded BRICS now includes Iran and the United Arab Emirates among its 11 members, having admitted six new countries in 2024-25. The two have found themselves on opposing sides of the current conflict, with Iran having struck UAE territory as part of its retaliation for the US-Israeli assault. India’s condemnationsIndia condemned Iran’s strikes on Gulf Cooperation Council countries, including the UAE, while not formally criticising the initial US-Israeli strikes on Iran. Among the original five founding members of BRICS, Brazil, Russia, China and South Africa have each individually condemned the US-Israeli strikes since the current conflict began.Thursday’s call between Modi and Pezeshkian was the first leadership-level contact between India and Iran since the war began. Jaishankar had told parliament on March 10 that leadership-level contacts with Iran had been “obviously difficult” since the conflict broke out.India has also not yet issued any statement, besides signing the condolence register, on the killing of Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei or the selection of Mojtaba Khamenei as the new supreme leader.This afternoon (March 13), the Indian Ministry of External Affairs fact-check handle on X sought to debunk a post claiming that India has threatened Iran.Fake News Alert!This is Fake News.Please stay alert against such false and baseless claims on social media! pic.twitter.com/bmwgMlMYp1— MEA FactCheck (@MEAFactCheck) March 13, 2026On Wednesday, India co-sponsored a UN Security Council resolution condemning Iran’s strike on Gulf Cooperation Council countries and Jordan.Gas and oilThe conversations come amid continued uncertainty over the Strait of Hormuz, which carries a significant share of the oil India imports from Gulf producers including Iraq, Saudi Arabia and the UAE. The strait’s near-closure since the outbreak of the conflict has directly impacted India’s energy security. India imports roughly 62 to 65% of its LPG demand, with over 90% of those imports in 2024 sourced from West Asian suppliers through the Strait of Hormuz. The disruption has triggered a domestic LPG crisis that has hit the restaurant and hospitality sector hardest. The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas has directed oil refineries to prioritise supplying LPG to the 330 million households that use it as a primary cooking fuel, over businesses that use commercial cylinders. The government has also invoked the Essential Commodities Act. Petroleum minister Hardeep Singh Puri told parliament on Thursday that India had shifted nearly 70% of its crude imports away from Hormuz routes and that there was no shortage for domestic consumers.The conflict has also taken a direct toll on Indian maritime workers. Three Indian nationals have been killed and one remains missing after merchant vessels on which they were crew members came under attack, with over two dozen others injured. An Indian crew member on board a US-owned crude oil tanker was killed when it was attacked near Basra, Iraq, on Wednesday. The shipping ministry stated that 78 Indian seafarers aboard foreign-flagged vessels caught in maritime incidents, 70 had escaped unharmed and four were injured but stable. India currently has 28 Indian-flagged vessels in the Persian Gulf area, of which 24 carrying 677 crew members are positioned west of the Strait of Hormuz and four with 101 sailors are east of the passage.