Modi Warns of ‘Decade of Crises’; BRICS Foreign Ministers Meet

May

2026

As the stalemate in the US and Israel war on Iran continues, the Strait of Hormuz remains blocked, India is facing a grave oil, gas and fertilizer crisis and the country’s foreign exchange is fast depleting. On 17 May, addressing the diaspora in the Netherlands on his five-nation tour, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, 'The world is dealing with new challenges. First came the COVID pandemic, then wars broke out, and now there is an energy crisis. This decade is turning into a decade of crises for the world.’ He further said, ‘If these situations are not rapidly changed, achievements of the past many decades would be washed away, and a huge section of the world's population would be pushed back into poverty.' Before visiting the Netherlands, PM Modi visited UAE and signed an agreement on a framework for Strategic Defence Partnership, a Memorandum of Understanding on petroleum reserves and supplies of Liquified Petroleum gas (LPG). UAE has recently left the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries which had capped its oil and gas exports. While Modi was in UAE, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Arghachi was in New Delhi for the BRICS Foreign Ministers meet. Araghchi said Tehran has 'never wanted nuclear weapons' and emphasized that diplomacy remains the only viable path forward amid the ongoing regional conflict and fragile ceasefire situation in West Asia. The BRICS meet concluded on 15 May without a joint statement because of 'differing views among member states' on the situation in West Asia. Without naming UAE, Araghchi said that the country has a ‘special relationship’ with Israel and hosts US military bases and installations which were used against Iran. He added, ‘They are not our target.’ Meanwhile, though India claims it has LPG stocks for 45 days, a fact check showed the current stock will last only 17 days. Concurrently, with paddy sowing 20 days away, Panjab farmers are concerned about shortage of fertilizers such as urea and Diammonium Phosphate and the USD 0.041 (INR 3.90) hike in diesel prices which will push up plantation and harvesting costs. Panjab has 5.5M tractors and combine harvesters, nearly 120K crop residue management machines, and 150K diesel-powered tubewells which consume 50% of the total diesel in the state between June–September (earlier coverage).