The presence of Iranian warships on Brazilian shores continues to irk the United States as it seeks to build closer ties with Brasilia
Brazil let two Iranian warships dock in Rio de Janeiro on Sunday after Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s government granted permission despite pressure from the United States to bar them.
The IRIS Makran and IRIS Dena warships arrived Sunday morning, Rio’s port authority said. Earlier this month, Reuters reported that Brazil bowed to U.S. pressure and declined Tehran’s request for the vessels to dock in the seaside city in late January – seen as a gesture from Lula as he flew to Washington to meet with U.S. President Joe Biden.
However, with Lula’s trip over, the ships were allowed to dock by Vice Admiral Carlos Eduardo Horta Arentz, the deputy chief of Brazil’s Naval Staff, between February 26 and March 4.
The presence of Iranian warships on Brazilian shores continues to irk the United States as it seeks to build closer ties with Lula’s administration.
In a press conference earlier this month, U.S. Ambassador Elizabeth Bagley urged Brazil not to allow the ships to dock.
“In the past, those ships facilitated illegal trade and terrorist activities, and have also been sanctioned by the United States. Brazil is a sovereign nation, but we firmly believe those ships should not dock anywhere,” she said.
Diplomacy with Iran was one of the highlights of Lula’s attempts to bolster Brazil’s international standing during his previous presidential terms. He traveled to Tehran to meet with Iran’s then-president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in 2010 as he sought to broker a nuclear deal between the U.S. and the Islamic Republic.
