# Washington's Iran exit runs through Delhi > The war the U.S. started may only end if Russia, China, and India broker the terms. - Title: Washington's Iran exit runs through Delhi · Foreign Policy - Summary: The war the U.S. started may only end if Russia, China, and India broker the terms. Iran needs guarantees and money that do not depend on Washington, and… - Keywords: iran, brics, diplomacy, great power politics, middle east, Washington's, exit, runs, through, Delhi, Foreign Policy - Source: Foreign Policy — https://foreignpolicy.com/2026/09/15/only-china-india-and-russia-can-end-the-iran-war - Author: Amir Handjani - Published: 2026-09-15T00:00:00+00:00 - Read time: 3 min - Topics: iran, brics, diplomacy, great power politics, middle east ## A summit that skipped Iran At the 18th BRICS summit in New Delhi, leaders talked trade corridors and Western decline. Iran barely made the formal agenda. ## The real conversation was private The public communiqué is not where this gets decided. In the closed meetings, the U.S. war in Iran was almost certainly on the table. ## Host and anchors hold the key India convened the summit, Russia and China anchored it. Those three may be the ones who can end a war Washington started and cannot finish. > a war that Washington started and can no longer finish ## The strikes did not work U.S. and Israeli strikes in June 2025 set back Iran's nuclear program but did not end it, and the regime is still standing. ## A window opened and shut A negotiating window came and went this summer with no deal. Trump now says the war will wrap up after the November midterms. ## An election clock, not a strategy Trump needs an ending he can sell as denying Iran a bomb. He has no path there that is not a long unpopular campaign or a deal his base reads as surrender. ## Iran cannot trust a promise Any American security assurance can be reversed by the next administration, or by the same one months later. Iranian officials have said so since the war began. ## Relief that cannot be switched off Tehran also wants sanctions relief outside the dollar system. Anything contingent on Washington's goodwill can be revoked on a whim. ## Russia sells legitimacy Moscow cannot defend Iran from another strike, with Ukraine eating its resources. It can be a guarantor, sit in a verification regime, and make a deal look negotiated. > having Russia in the room changes the optics of any deal from surrender to negotiated settlement ## China writes the checks Beijing already buys most of Iran's exported oil outside dollar clearing. Formalized investment under the 2021 cooperation pact gives Tehran a future that ignores U.S. sanctions. ## Beijing wants the lanes open A grinding war disrupts the oil flows and shipping routes China depends on. That is its own reason to lean on Tehran. ## India talks to both sides New Delhi is a Quad security partner of Washington and runs Chabahar port with Tehran. Almost no one else can call both capitals without being accused of bad faith. ## India's own stake It wants no Iranian bomb and no permanently unstable Gulf, where much of its oil and migrant labor flows through. ## How the deal could run Iran accepts verification it can call negotiated, with Russia guaranteeing inspections alongside the IAEA. China absorbs the economic slack. India hosts the talks. ## No credit required Trump never has to say his rivals fixed his problem. He says Iran will never get a weapon, and the troops come home. > The mechanics of great-power diplomacy do not require public credit to match private reality. ## The Gulf is already hedging Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Qatar have deepened ties with Beijing and Moscow. Watching Washington swing from talks to bombing threats in a month explains why. ## Every broker pays a price Russia's role is mostly symbolic, China avoids regional security commitments, India risks the Quad, Israel wants control, and Iranian hard-liners resist retreat. ## The assumption has expired Washington built decades of policy on setting regional terms alone. The shortest way out of this war may run through New Delhi, Moscow, and Beijing. ## Key takeaway Iran needs guarantees and money that do not depend on Washington, and only Moscow, Beijing, and New Delhi can supply them.