Brazil Extends Support to Iran's Nuclear Program

Brazil has extended support to Iran's peaceful nuclear program, which makes it clear that US efforts to impose more sanctions against Iran are not yielding the desired results. Diplomatic efforts carried out by Hillary Clinton so far have failed miserably. The United States is angry, but Iran cares two hoots for the same.

The UN sanctions against Iran have had no impact on that country as yet. That is why the United States is striving to get more and extended sanctions against Iran. The problem lies in the fact that the stance of both Russia and China is different from the US stance. The United States is failing to impose more stringent sanctions against Iran as it fears that both China and Russia would veto any such proposal moved by the same.

US Attitude and Discrimination
The issue is not limited to that a major power (Brazil) has a different stand on the Iranian nuclear program. There are several other countries that do not agree with the US attitude as it is based on discrimination. Recently, when US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was on an official visit to Saudi Arabia, she requested support from that country to the US stand on Iran's nuclear program. She also desired that Saudi Arabia should strive to make China tow the US line on the issue, but she failed in her endeavors.

Undoubtedly, Saudi Arabia did express concern over the Iranian nuclear program. At the same time, it was of the view that no discrimination should be made between Iran and Israel on the issue. Clearly, the United States cannot bear to hear anything against Israel, and Hillary Clinton had to maintain silence. She, therefore, failed in her mission.

The second jolt to the United States has come from the Brazilian attitude to the Iranian nuclear program. In her meeting with Brazilian President Luiz Inaco Lula da Silva at Brasilia, Hillary Clinton had sought his support to the US stand to the Iranian nuclear program. She had argued that Iran could only be forced to come to the negotiating table if further and more stringent sanctions were imposed on it by the United Nations. But Brazil's president and foreign minister rejected this argument.

Program for Peaceful Purpose
President Lula da Silva categorically told Hillary Clinton that cordoning Iran off from all the side would be an unwise initiative. He went a step further by saying that if Iran's nuclear program is for peaceful purpose, Brazil would continue to support on this ground. Hillary Clinton's Brazilian counterpart even extorted her that imposition of more sanctions against Iran may prove counter productive.

To expect that the United States would heed the Brazilian exhortation would be an exercise in futility. The outcome of US decisions on Iraq and Afghanistan is no secret now. Yet, it appears that even Barack Obama is gradually drifting toward the ways of George W. Bush, and may follow them. Obama, by ignoring Israeli threats, is unnecessarily and unmindfully highlighting the threat from the Iranian nuclear program. In fact, there is no other justification to it than that Israel be made an invincible power in the region, so that no Islamic country, including Iran, be in a position to challenge the same issue.

Threat to Region
Let Islamic countries including Saudi Arabia say what they may to the United States, but in their heart of hearts, they have realized the duplicity in the US stand and attitude. These Islamic countries do want that Iran should continue its endeavor. A number of surveys conducted in Islamic countries reveal that people in these countries do not take Iran as a threat to the region. Instead, they take the United States and Israel as threats to their very existence.

The stand adopted by Brazil vis-à-vis the Iranian nuclear program amounts to failure of US diplomacy, which further proves that doubts and suspicions, on the success of the United States and its decisions on Iraq and Afghanistan are on the rise in the international community.