Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

"Those concerned about Iran's penetration into Latin America don't think this is an overly helpful visit," said Ray Walser, with The Heritage Foundation, a conservative Washington-based think tank. "Ahmadinejad can go back to Iran say, 'Look, Brazil says we're normal. Our nuclear program, they green-lighted us."

Read more: Brazil: World must engage, not isolate Iran | In this article: Iran, Brazil, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Uranium, Brasilia, Rio de Janeiro, and Middle East

"Ahmadinejad wants to go wherever he's accepted and he wants to be lionized," said Robert Pastor, a national security adviser for President Carter in the late 1970s. "I can understand why Ahmadinejad would go to Brazil and Bolivia and Venezuela,"

Read more: Iranian leader's visit to Brazil draws criticism | In this article: Brazil, Hugo Chavez, Uranium, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Venezuela, United States, Iran, and Evo Morales

"Ahmadinejad wants to go wherever he's accepted and he wants to be lionized," said Robert Pastor, a national security adviser for President Carter in the late 1970s. "I can understand why Ahmadinejad would go to Brazil and Bolivia and Venezuela," Pastor said. "What I can't understand [is] why Brazil would want to welcome him. Clearly, Brazil wants to be a major player in world affairs, but to do so requires some awareness of international relations."

Read more: Iranian leader's visit to Brazil draws criticism | In this article: Brazil, Hugo Chavez, Uranium, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Venezuela, United States, Iran, and Evo Morales

"Today, Mr. Ahmadinejad and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez have created a cozy financial, political and military partnership rooted in a shared anti-American animus," Manhattan District Attorney Robert M. Morgenthau said in a September column in the Wall Street Journal. In a visit to Iran in September, Chavez highlighted a series of joint ventures, including the construction of ethanol plants in Venezuela and gas exploration in Iran by Venezuela's state-run oil company. He also said he aims to build a "nuclear village"

Read more: Iranian leader's visit to Brazil draws criticism | In this article: Brazil, Hugo Chavez, Uranium, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Venezuela, United States, Iran, and Evo Morales

"Iran and Brazil have a common vision about the situation in the world and are determined to develop their cooperation" makes one wonder what Lula is thinking. And Lula did not publicly dispute Ahmadinejad's always-close to the surface hatred of Israel, when the Iranian president added: "If the Brazilian people and the Iranian people are united on issues such as the Zionist regime's cruel attack on the defenceless people of Gaza, this will show a mutual desire for peace."

Read more: Chavez, Ahmadinejad, Lula and Carlos the Jackel | In this article: Hugo Chavez, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Carlos the Jackal, Jackel, Brazil, Iran, and Israel

"If the people ask us to produce ourselves, we should do it and the opportunity we tried to create for the other side will be lost," said Ahmadinejad, who has repeatedly denied allegations by the United States and its European allies that Iran is embarking on a nuclear weapons program.

Read more: Brazil: World must engage, not isolate Iran | In this article: Iran, Brazil, Uranium, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Middle East, International Atomic Energy Agency, U.S. State Department, Mahmoud Abbas, and United States

Before leaving on Sunday on his five-day visit, which will also take in Gambia and Senegal, Mr Ahmadi-Nejad said: "Iran, Brazil and Venezuela can play a determining role in planning, regulating and establishing new orders in the world. "

Read more: Ahmadi-Nejad tests Brazilian diplomacy | In this article: Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad, Brazil, Iran, Tehran, Middle East, Shimon Peres, US, Brasilia, and World Jewish Congress

After a rant by Ahmadinejad at the UN on September 24, Israel's Netanyahu responded: "Yesterday the man who calls the Holocaust a lie spoke from this podium.

Read more: Israel deserves respect in global forums | In this article: Israel, United Nations, Democracy, Gaza, Freedom House, Human Rights Watch, Middle East, Benjamin Netanyahu, and Nazism

"How does it feel to have used your Jewishness to jeopardize the safety and security of the people of Israel, and to find yourself in the company of human rights abusers everywhere?" she asked him. In an earlier visit to Geneva, Bayefsky caused a stir during the "Durban II" racism conference, a week-long event attended by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and boycotted by the U.S., Israel and a handful of other Western countries. Ahmadinejad sparked a walkout during a speech in which he called Israel the "most cruel and repressive racist regime," described the Holocaust as a "pretext" for Israel's establishment in 1948, and said the 2003 invasion of Iraq was "planned by the Zionists and their allies in the then U.S. administration. "

Read more: Leading U.N. Critic Sees Political Agenda Behind U.N.'s Decision to Bar Her | In this article: U.N., Anne Bayefsky, Israel, New York, and United States

"Cooperation with Iran is in the West's interest" while pressures on the Persian nation would only make the country "more powerful and advanced," Ahmadinejad said, according to a statement posted late Sunday on the presidential Web site.

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