PM Modi, Pezeshkian & Putin at Brics Summit 2026 (left); PM Modi, Xi and Putin at SCO summit in 2025 (right) What could be a fresh diplomatic headache for Donald Trump? A picture of Prime Minister Narendra Modi holding hands with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, with Russian President Vladimir Putin standing alongside them at the Brics Summit, has brought together three countries whose ties with Washington range from strategic competition to open confrontation.

The image also echoes a remark Trump made last year after PM Modi, Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping were pictured together at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit. “Looks like we’ve lost India and Russia to deepest, darkest, China.

May they have a long and prosperous future together!” Trump had said.

This time, Iran, one of Washington’s most adversarial rivals, has joined the picture, adding another layer to the geopolitical message from a grouping that Trump has repeatedly viewed with suspicion. The US president has not yet commented on the Brics summit.

Trump pressure on BricsUS President Donald Trump has repeatedly warned Brics against challenging the dominance of the US dollar, putting the grouping’s push for greater use of local currencies at the centre of tensions with Washington. “We require a commitment from these Countries that they will neither create a new Brics Currency, nor back any other currency to replace the mighty US Dollar or, they will face 100% Tariffs, and should expect to say goodbye to selling into the wonderful US economy,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.

The issue remains central to Brics’ economic agenda, although the grouping has increasingly focused on making trade and payments in national currencies easier rather than creating a common currency. “One of the most important steps is to expand the use of national currencies in trade among the members.

This step must be accompanied by the establishment of the necessary instruments for managing currency risks and reciprocal settlements,” Pezeshkian said. He also argued that the existing financial system was vulnerable because of its concentration around a limited number of currencies and called for the New Development Bank to play a bigger role in financing infrastructure and energy projects through local currencies and other mechanisms.

Putin, meanwhile, did not directly mention replacing the dollar at this year’s forum. “Right now, the world is undergoing structural, deep, profound shifts.