BRICS condemn air strikes on Iran, urge immediate Gaza ceasefire

AFP , Sunday 6 Jul 2025

BRICS nations strongly condemned recent air strikes on Iran and called for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire to end the 22-month-old war in Gaza in a joint statement released at their summit on Sunday.

BRICS
World leaders take part in the 17th annual BRICS summit in Rio de Janeiro. AP

 

The bloc accused the strikes — carried out by the United States and Israel — of violating international law, though their statement did not explicitly name either country.

The BRICS summit includes Iran, Israel’s arch-foe, alongside nations such as Russia, which maintains close ties with Tehran.

“We condemn the military strikes against the Islamic Republic of Iran since 13 June 2025, which constitute a violation of international law,” the statement said.

“We further express serious concern over deliberate attacks on civilian infrastructure and peaceful nuclear facilities,” it added.

The Israeli strikes caused civilian casualties across multiple regions in Iran, reflecting Israel’s indiscriminate attacks, including on residential areas in the heart of Tehran.

Iran’s judiciary reported that at least 935 people were killed during the 12-day conflict with Israel, state media said, nearly a week after a US-brokered ceasefire took hold.

The bloc also addressed the ongoing war in Gaza, demanding the full withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Gaza Strip and all other occupied Palestinian territories.

“We exhort the parties to engage in good faith in further negotiations to achieve an immediate, permanent and unconditional ceasefire,” the 11-nation bloc said in its final statement.

The statement came as truce talks between Israel and Hamas resumed in Doha, amid growing international pressure to end Israel’s 22-month war on Gaza, which has killed at least 57,418 people—mostly women and children—and pushed Gaza’s population of two million to the brink of famine.

Host nation Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva warned leaders from China, India, and other nations against remaining "indifferent" to the Israeli "genocide" in Gaza.

“We cannot remain indifferent to the genocide carried out by Israel in Gaza, the indiscriminate killing of innocent civilians and the use of hunger as a weapon of war,” Lula said, while acknowledging that nothing justifies Hamas’s October 2023 attack on Israel.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is scheduled to visit the White House on Monday for talks with US President Donald Trump, who is pushing to end the war and hopes for a ceasefire deal in the coming week.

This story was edited by Ahram Online.

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