The Speaker of the Islamic Consultative Assembly of Iran, Mohammad Baqer Ghalibaf, will not participate in the BRICS Parliamentary Forum meeting to be held on October 26 and 27 in New Delhi, the Embassy of Iran announced on Saturday (October 24, 2026). This comes in the wake of reports that India refused to allow a shipment of medicines to be transported to Tehran by Iran Air.
Also read | BRICS issues New Delhi Declaration, as UAE and Iran back down from tough positions
India insists that Iran is free to take delivery of such medical consignments through a third country like Armenia, as Indian airports and air operators would otherwise face U.S. sanctions.
Iranian officials, however, argued that “humanitarian assistance” is not under any international sanction and that India should operationalise the bilateral air route “on priority basis” for humanitarian support to a fellow BRICS member country. They also claimed that some temperature-sensitive medication had become unusable after transport through third countries.
Parliamentary delegation will attend
“The Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran in New Delhi wishes to inform that, due to certain unforeseen circumstances, H.E. Dr. Mohammad-Baqer Qalibaf, Speaker of the Islamic Consultative Assembly of Iran, will be unable to attend the Meeting of Speakers of the Parliaments of BRICS Member Countries in New Delhi,” the Embassy said in its statement, adding that an Iranian parliamentary delegation would participate in the event.
“As one of the members of BRICS, Iran reaffirms its commitment to active and effective participation at the highest levels in the summits and meetings of the grouping,” the Embassy of Iran said in its announcement on Saturday (October 24). When Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian visited India to participate in last month’s BRICS summit, he had declared that Iran will not be “bullied” by the United States.
The problem initially came to light on October 19 when Iran Air managing director Taher Abdolhay revealed at a press conference in Tehran that the airline had failed to get permission to fly medicines from India and Singapore.
Fear of U.S. sanctions
Official sources in Delhi, however, argued that the cancellation of Mr. Ghalibaf’s visit was not connected to the bottlenecks facing the supply of Indian medicines to Iran. Officials said that Indian pharmaceutical companies have been sending medicines to Iran through third countries like Oman and Armenia.
“Even during the peak of the conflict, medicines from the Indian market were flown to Armenia and from there they were driven to Iran in trucks,” a source said, indicating that most major Iranian airlines are facing U.S. Treasury sanctions and that Indian airport operators could face difficulties if they were found hosting sanctioned Iranian airlines.
The Hindu was told that the best option for Iran is to fly Indian medicines and pharmaceutical items to countries like Armenia, from where they can be driven over the Iranian border. “It is for Iran to decide how they want to get the deliveries. On our end, we are fully ready to supply,” the official said.
‘Medicines part of humanitarian aid’
Responding to questions from The Hindu, an Iranian official source said that Iran would like to remind India that, “Humanitarian assistance is not under any international sanction and medicine is a humanitarian necessity for a country like Iran.”
The Iranian official acknowledged that Tehran does have the option of flying Indian medical consignments to Iraq, Turkey, Armenia and Oman. However, there are challenges in sending perishable items like medicines through a combination of long haul flights, road transit through conflict zones, and multiple heavy cargo loading, he said.
“Direct Delhi-Tehran air connection is one of the oldest air routes in our region, and medicines can reach Tehran in three hours from India. Therefore, why should we take 24 to 48 hours to deliver medicines from India, as during such long flights and drives, medicines can get damaged,” the Iranian official said, on condition of anonymity.
He noted that, in the recent past, when Iran received Indian medicines overland through Armenia, some of the items that had to be stored in temperature-controlled containers were found to have perished in the long transit and in multiple heavy cargo transfers.
“Our priority is for India to acknowledge that medicines are part of humanitarian assistance. We are both BRICS members and ancient civilisational partners and that is why the bilateral air route should remain open,” the official said, highlighting that there is considerable resistance from some big corporate players in India who do not want to do business with Iran because of fear of U.S. and EU sanctions.
Published – October 24, 2026 06:11 pm IST
