Iran seeks membership in BRICS New Development Bank

Tehran (ANTARA) - Iran is working towards joining the membership of the BRICS New Development Bank (NDB), stated Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Saturday.

“We are pursuing this,” Araghchi said, as quoted from his official Telegram channel, while responding to media inquiries regarding the possibility of Iran joining the BRICS bank.

On Friday (11/9), Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian stated at a BRICS business forum in New Delhi that the NDB is expected to become the primary structure for financing various infrastructure and energy projects within the group’s member states using national currencies.

Previously, in August 2024, the Governor of the Central Bank of Iran, Abdolnaser Hemmati, stated that Iran would soon join the BRICS-owned NDB.

He also mentioned that Tehran is promoting bilateral and multilateral currency cooperation with BRICS member nations.

Iran, which has endured the negative impacts of large-scale sanctions for many years, routinely calls for the establishment of independent and sustainable financial mechanisms to counter such restrictions.

BRICS is an intergovernmental association formed in 2006 by Brazil, Russia, India, and China, with South Africa joining in 2011.

Several other countries have joined BRICS since 2024. India holds the rotating BRICS leadership this year and is hosting the 18th BRICS Summit on 12–13 September in New Delhi.