India on Tuesday welcomed the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) reached between United States and Iran with National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval saying that the deal brings 'cautious optimism'.
Speaking at the 16th BRICS National Security Advisers' Meeting, National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval says, "India welcomes the understanding reached between the United States and Iran. We remain cautiously optimistic and hope that it will yield positive results. It has the potential to enhance energy security."
Also read: India breaks silence after Qatar blast kills 12 Indian nationals
Negotiators from Washington and Tehran met in Switzerland, along with officials from mediators Qatar and Pakistan to conduct technical talks on the peace deal.
US Vice President JD Vance and other officials claimed progress on multiple fronts, including the establishment of "mechanisms" to ensure the Strait of Hormuz stays open and to address fighting between Israel and Iranian-backed Hezbollah militants in southern Lebanon, where a ceasefire appeared to be holding.
The NSA added that the opening of the Strait of Hormuz is a very welcome development as it will help ease supply chain bottlenecks, and many of the shortages in fertilizers, chemicals, and other essential commodities may be alleviated.
"And the freedom of navigation that will be available to the countries in the region and beyond will probably also greatly improve our economic prosperity," Doval added.
The NSA highlighted that India needs to be cognizant of the new security threats and challenges as non-traditional threats have transcended national borders and have developed defeat systems against conventional responses.
"Innovative disruptive technologies, more camouflaged variants of terrorism, cyber threats, in a world are getting increasingly digitised. They all constitute an important threat for us," he said, adding that the BRICS NSAs will navigate some of these non-traditional security challenges in the collective deliberations in New Delhi.
Citing "tumultuous times", Doval pitched BRICS as voice of the Global South and the group being a very special coalition of countries that believe in peace, progress, development, and cooperation.
He highlighted that the world is beleaguered by military conflicts and complex security problems, and the globe is facing geopolitical uncertainties, economic strains, and disruptive technology.
Not only that the threats are compounding, he said, but the instruments and institutional mechanisms are increasingly finding themselves to be inadequate to resolve or mitigate these conflicts.
"Multilateralism is on the decline," Doval said, adding that the BRICS group was conceived as an informal grouping of emerging economies to a more multipolar world order and was formed to advance economic cooperation and strengthen the voice of the Global South.
The NSA added that BRICS has a very special role to play in a world that appears to be in turmoil, a world that is rapidly changing and in which the instruments of conflict resolution seem to be losing their effectiveness.
