Explained | Why India Is Navigating Great Power Divide Over Bahrain’s Draft Hormuz Resolution In UNSC
As BRICS chair, India treads cautiously on Bahrain’s Chapter VII draft at the United Nations Security Council, balancing maritime security, sovereignty concerns, and great-power divisions
Published : April 2, 2026 at 9:19 PM IST
New Delhi: India’s cautious response to Bahrain’s draft resolution at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) on reopening the Strait of Hormuz is emerging as a significant diplomatic moment for New Delhi.
As the BRICS chair in 2026, India finds itself navigating a delicate path between competing global positions on sovereignty, use of force, and maritime security amid a deepening West Asian conflict.
“This particular resolution is under consideration in the UN Security Council,” External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said in response to a question during his weekly media briefing here Thursday. “We are aware of the resolution. We also know that relevant parties, which means the members of the Security Council, are currently negotiating this particular text.”
Jaiswal said that India stands for free and open commercial shipping and for maritime security in keeping with international law.
“We continue to call for ensuring safe and free navigation through the Strait of Hormuz as a matter of priority,” he further stated. “And, also, we are closely following all developments in regard to this West Asian conflict. So that is how we look at the Bahraini resolution.”
What is Bahrain’s proposed resolution?
The Strait of Hormuz is one of the world’s most crucial maritime chokepoints: roughly 20 percent of global oil and gas exports normally pass through it. Following the war triggered by the US-Israel coalition’s attack on Iran on February 28, Tehran effectively closed or severely disrupted shipping through the strait, hitting global energy markets and causing prices and supply concerns worldwide.
Regional states such as the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain are among those most directly affected and have sought international action to keep the waterway open and secure.
Bahrain circulated a draft resolution in the UNSC that would authorise countries to use “all necessary means” — the standard diplomatic language for permitting force — in the Strait of Hormuz, the Gulf, and the Gulf of Oman to ensure free passage and prevent interference with international navigation.
The draft language envisages that states could act alone or through voluntary multinational naval coalitions, and also encourages coordination among countries reliant on the strait for international trade.
The initial version of the resolution explicitly cited Article 39 and other parts of Chapter VII of the UN Charter, which provides the legal basis for the Security Council to authorize military force or sanctions to restore peace and security.
What does Chapter VII of the UN Charter authorise?
Chapter VII of the UN Charter empowers the Security Council to respond to threats to international peace and security. It enables the Council to determine the existence of a threat to peace, a breach of peace, or an act of aggression, and take measures to restore peace and security, ranging from non-military actions (like economic sanctions or arms embargoes) to military force.
Article 39 of Chapter VII establishes that the Council may determine a threat and decide on measures. Articles 41 and 42 allow the UNSC to impose non-forceful measures (economic and diplomatic) and, if those fail, military measures, including operations by forces made available to the UN or by member states acting under Council authorisation.
In UN practice, authorising “all necessary measures” in a Chapter VII resolution is widely understood as permitting the use of force (land, sea, air) to achieve the Council’s mandate.
So, what is holding up Bahrain’s draft resolution?
Despite Bahrain holding the UNSC presidency for April 2026 and pushing hard for the text, Russia, China, and France have raised concerns about the wording, particularly its enforcement implications.
The draft was revised to remove a formal Chapter VII reference, though it retained the substance that would allow “all necessary means” against forces obstructing navigation. The draft has not yet been approved and is still under negotiation.
Why does India’s position on Bahrain’s draft resolution matter?
India’s calibrated response to Bahrain’s draft resolution at the UNSC is diplomatically significant not only because of the unfolding West Asian conflict, but also because India chairs the BRICS intergovernmental organisation in 2026. Iran is also a member of this bloc and so is the UAE, which has been made a target of Tehran’s counterattacks.
New Delhi’s position sits at the intersection of three sensitive fault lines: the crisis in the Gulf, divisions among major powers at the UN, and divergences within BRICS itself.
Ordinarily, India’s reaction to a UNSC draft might be seen as cautious diplomacy. But this time, India is chair of BRICS, which includes Russia and China — both wary of Chapter VII mandates that could legitimise force against sovereign states.
New Delhi is also a strategic partner of the US and increasingly aligned with Western maritime security concerns.
At the same time, India is deeply dependent on energy flows from the Gulf, especially through the Strait of Hormuz. West Asia is also home to a large Indian diaspora whose safety depends on the de-escalation of the conflict.
This makes India one of the few major powers that has stakes on all sides of the debate.
Robinder Sachdev, strategic affairs expert and president of the New Delhi-based Imagindia think tank, is of the view that India, as the chair of BRICS, is facing a huge challenge this year.
“India will adopt a wait-and-watch policy as the chair of BFRICS,” Sachdev told ETV Bharat. “India will be hosting the BRICS foreign ministers’ meeting next month. The BRICS summit will be held in September this year. Only after that, some clarity will emerge.”
He added that this year will be important for BRICS to do some serious soul-searching.
Taken together, India’s response to Bahrain’s Chapter VII resolution is less about the text itself and more about the role New Delhi is playing in 2026.
As BRICS chair, India is acting as a diplomatic hinge between competing worldviews on the use of force, sovereignty, and maritime security. Its position reflects an effort to preserve unity within BRICS, avoid alienating major partners, uphold the primacy of the UN system, and protect its own strategic and economic interests.
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