Srilanka, Aug. 1 -- This matters not only because of Iran's geopolitical position, but because it's now a permanent member of both BRICS and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). Unlike Russia's confrontation with the West, which is mediated through the conflict in Ukraine, Iran's dispute with Washington is direct and that reality inevitably raises questions about how BRICS and the SCO will function as organizations and what role they can play in an increasingly fragmented international order.

Both groups emerged from the crisis of the liberal world order that became apparent in the early 2000s when the American-led 'war on terror' and the invasion of Iraq convinced many governments that the promised unipolar world had failed to ...