Visits

Ahmadinejad Welcomed in Brazil

Brazil risks squandering world influence.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is making the first visit to Brazil by an Iranian head of state, during a diplomatic tour through South America and Africa. The U.S. government worries that by welcoming Ahmadinejad, who was forced to cancel a scheduled visit to Brazil last May after protesters took to the streets alarmed by Ahmadinejad's views on the Holocaust and Israel, Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva could signal implicit approval of Iran's resistance to international pressure surrounding the country's nuclear ambitions. Ahmadinejad and Lula are expected to sign a number of agreements during the visit, including cooperation pacts in biotechnology, energy, and agriculture. Tehran is also seeking to up its petrochemical, energy, agricultural, and medical trade with Brazil from $2 billion to $15 billion.