By Pishtaz and AFP | 2023-08-25

Iran was one of six countries invited Thursday (August 24) to become members of the BRICS group of developing nations in its first expansion in over a decade.

But analysts say the addition of Iran, isolated and under international sanctions, is a "contentious" issue.

The BRICS countries -- Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa -- agreed at their annual summit in South Africa's Johannesburg to also make Argentina, Ethiopia, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) full members from January 1.

BRICS members account for about 40% of the global population and some 25% of the world's Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

News of the group's expansion has raised eyebrows, particularly as relations even between current BRICS members have been complicated at times.

Built off a term originally coined by former Goldman Sachs economist Jim O’Neill to describe key emerging markets, the group has persisted despite deep differences in political and economic systems among its members, CNN reported.

"Economically, not many of the countries that are applying to join are particularly large," O'Neill told Bloomberg earlier this week.

Existing BRICS members have "had enough difficulty trying to agree just between the five of them," he added. "So ... I'm not quite sure what having a lot more countries in there is going to achieve."

Existing disagreements

Original members China and India are in a dispute over part of their border.

And until very recently, new members Iran and Saudi Arabia did not have a political relationship. Some analysts still express uncertainty about the future of their ties on the heels of the China-brokered agreement that rekindled their relationship last March.

While the announcement indicated all six countries would join, the Saudi response was non-committal, with Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan saying Riyadh was "awaiting details" about the invitation and would "take the appropriate decision."

There has also been tension among two other new members -- Egypt and Ethiopia -- over a hydroelectric dam on the Nile.

The admission of oil-producing countries Iran, Saudi Arabia and the UAE would boost the BRICS economic clout, but some observers expressed concern about the inclusion of Iran.

"Iran is a contentious addition, but I certainly think it was a demand from Russia," Gustavo de Carvalho, senior researcher at the South African Institute of International Affairs, told AFP.

While presidents of four of the bloc's member countries attended the summit in Johannesburg in person, Russian President Vladimir Putin participated in the discussions virtually as a warrant for his arrest has been issued by the International Criminal Court over Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

'Not much achievement'

Although the group of emerging economies has been in formal existence for 15 years, some analysts say the bloc has not achieved much, and the diffuse nature of their political and social interests means BRICS leaders do not always agree on issues.

Some say that has prevented them from becoming a more powerful or effective entity.

"What [BRICS is] trying to achieve in a way is being opened up for more discussion," Danny Bradlow, a professor with the Center for the Advancement of Scholarship at the University of Pretoria, told Al-Jazeera ahead of the summit.

"As long as it was just the five countries, they were talking about the reform of global economic governance or global governance generally... But they haven't done very much about that."

It is unclear if the expansion would significantly enhance the group's clout on the global stage. That would depend on how far it will be able to act in unison, analysts said, and the group of new members has made it even more disparate.

US officials have played down the likelihood of BRICS emerging as a geopolitical rival, describing the bloc as a highly diverse grouping of both friends and rivals.

"The United States reiterates its belief that countries may choose the partners and groupings with whom they will associate," a State Department spokesperson said.