A zero-sum game between Iran and Brazil

Brazil's president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has received his Iranian counterpart Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on the latter's South American visit and urged him to enter dialogue on Iran's nuclear programme. The left-liberal daily El País comments on Brazil's new role in foreign policy: "Brazil has decided to take on the new role it is entitled to and which entails developing its own policy on the most important global conflicts, in particular the Middle East and Iran's nuclear programme. This was a risky step for President Lula, who has already received Israeli President Shimon Peres and the president of the Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas. … The way things look now Ahmadinejad's visit to Brazil will result in a zero-sum game. Either Lula is left exposed for having weakened the international front against the Iranian nuclear programme without achieving anything, or Iran will have to make concessions to Lula which it has been at pains to avoid by any means up to now."

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