How BRICS Plus clashes with the US economic war on Iran

From Asia Times

BRICS Leaders Pose for Family Photo before Closed Door Session
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The key take-away from the BRICS summit in Johannesburg is that Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa -- important Global South players -- strongly condemn unilateralism and protectionism.

The Johannesburg Declaration is unmistakable: "We recognize that the multilateral trading system is facing unprecedented challenges. We underscore the importance of an open world economy."

Closer examination of Chinese President Xi Jinping's speech unlocks some poignant details.

Xi, crucially, emphasizes delving further into "our strategic partnership." That implies increased BRICS and Beyond BRICS multilateral trade, investment and economic and financial connectivity.

And that also implies reaching to the next level; "It is important that we continue to pursue innovation-driven development and build the BRICS Partnership on New Industrial Revolution (PartNIR) to strengthen coordination on macroeconomic policies, find more complementarities in our development strategies, and reinforce the competitiveness of the BRICS countries, emerging market economies and developing countries."

If PartNIR sounds like the basis for an overall Global South platform, that's because it is.

In a not too veiled allusion to the Trump administration's unilateral pullout from the Iran nuclear deal (JCPOA), Xi called all parties to "abide by international law and basic norms governing international relations and to settle disputes through dialogue and differences through consultation," adding that the BRICS are inevitably working for "a new type of international relations."

Relations such as these certainly do not include a superpower unilaterally imposing an energy export blockade -- an act of economic war -- on an emerging market and key actor of the Global South.

Xi is keen to extol a "network of closer partnerships." That's where the concept of BRICS Plus fits in. China coined BRICS Plus last year at the Xiamen summit, it refers to closer integration between the five BRICS members and other emerging markets/developing nations

Argentina, Turkey and Jamaica are guests of honor in Johannesburg. Xi sees BRICS Plus interacting with the UN, the G20 "and other frameworks" to amplify the margin of maneuver not only of emerging markets but the whole Global South. --So how does Iran fit into this framework?

Immediately after President Trump's Tweet of Mass Destruction the rhetorical war between Washington and Tehran has skyrocketed to extremely dangerous levels.