Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday criticized Western sanctions against their economies at the BRICS Business Forum and urged Global South nations to deepen trade ties. Pezeshkian called on BRICS countries to create an environment that prevents any nation from disrupting the legitimate trade of others through monopolizing financial instruments or technology, and advocated for expanding the use of local currency settlements among member states. Putin stated that Russia has faced over 30,000 sanctions and noted that BRICS countries have contributed over 40% to the increase in global GDP over the past five years, while G7 nations accounted for only 29%.