Iran was among six countries in the Middle East, South America, and Africa invited to join the BRICS bloc of developing countries on Thursday, during a summit in Johannesburg.

Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Argentina, Egypt, and Ethiopia are the other five set to join the group, which currently consists of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, next year. All six countries invited had expressed an interest in joining.

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"BRICS has embarked on a new chapter in its effort to build a world that is fair, a world that is just, a world that is also inclusive and prosperous," South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said. "We have consensus on the first phase of this expansion process and other phases will follow."

The announcement came after two days of talks at the summit. Leaders that were in attendance included Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chinese President Xi Jinping, and Ramaphosa. Russian President Vladimir Putin was unable to attend due to the International Criminal Court's warrant against him.

South Africa is a signatory of the Rome Statute that created the ICC and would’ve been obligated to arrest him. While Moscow has disregarded the arrest warrant, Putin hasn't traveled to any country that is a member of the ICC since the indictment was handed down in March.

The bloc, which makes up roughly 40% of the world’s population, was formed in 2009 by Brazil, Russia, India, and China. It added South Africa a year later, and that was the only expansion it had undergone until Thursday’s announcement.

"This membership expansion is historic," Xi, the bloc's biggest proponent of expansion, said. "It shows the determination of BRICS countries for unity and cooperation with the broader developing countries."

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The decision to expand comes at a time when two of the five current members, Russia and China, are at odds with the United States and the West. The latter, per the Defense Department, is the only country that has the desire and possibly the ability to reshape the global world order, which is why the military considers Beijing its "pacing challenge."

Iran's inclusion in the bloc would be another member that has an adversarial viewpoint of the U.S. Tehran has aided Russia in its invasion of Ukraine by providing it with one-way attack unmanned aerial vehicles. Russia is now setting up a facility in its territory to build a version of the Iranian drones.