ST. PETERSBURG, July 11. /TASS/. Russia is delighted to see that Iran is fully starting work in BRICS, Russian President Vladimir Putin said.

The president made the comment at a meeting with Iran’s Islamic Consultative Assembly Chairman Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf on the sidelines of the BRICS Parliamentary Forum in St. Petersburg on Thursday.

"The work at today's event of the BRICS inter-parliamentary dimension will be very useful and it is timely, which is most important. Iran is fully beginning work at this organization, and we are very delighted about it. We worked together with you to organize Iran's accession," Putin said.

He asked the Iranian official to pass along his best wishes to Iran's spiritual leader Ali Khamenei.

The 10th BRICS Parliamentary Forum is taking place from July 11-12 in St. Petersburg. Russia took over the rotating presidency of BRICS on January 1. Currently, the group comprises 10 countries. Since its founding in 2006, BRICS has gone through two waves of expansion. In 2011, South Africa joined the original membership, which included Brazil, Russia, India and China. Five new members of the association — Egypt, Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Ethiopia and Saudi Arabia - joined on January 1, 2024.