The Iran war is providing a vivid demonstration of how BRICS expansion is hampering the bloc’s ability to act decisively in the security sphere.

Examining the latest developments in the Iran war, a conspicuously muted summit between President Trump and Xi Jinping, and growing pains in a recent BRICS+ meeting.

The 2025 BRICS Rio Summit reflects a contradiction at the heart of the bloc: while US trade threats underscore the relevance of BRICS efforts to hedge against dollar dominance, deep internal divisions and technical obstacles continue to hamstring its ability to actually do anything about it.

The BRICS Kazan Summit showcased the bloc’s strengths in advancing the interests of the Global South, but also some of the challenges in reaching consensus amid such ideological, regional, and geopolitical diversity.

Kazakhstan’s decision to abstain from BRICS membership aligns with broader foreign policy goals, namely maintaining a strategic balance between East and West.

India is a key member of a BRICS bloc that increasingly appears committed to advancing de-dollarization, yet doing so will only advance Beijing’s regional and global interests at the expense of New Delhi’s.

Azerbaijan wants in on the next wave of BRICS expansion, and as a key link in both the INSTC and the Middle Corridor, Baku won’t have to wait long to join the club.

Although the BRICS may hope for a more equal world-order, they may soon find out that the standard they rebel against may not actually have been the worst structure for governing the world’s resources.

The dynamic interrelations between China and Latin America could function as both an indicator and a catalyst for larger transformations in global geopolitics.

Outlining the logic behind potential BRICS membership bids from Indonesia and Bangladesh

BRICS expansion could widen the group’s geopolitical clout, but the process is not without risks.