Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has warned that imposing new sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program would be a very dangerous step.

Sanctions could isolate Iran so much that tensions would spiral out of control, Lula told AP in an interview on Tuesday.

He suggested that new Iran sanctions might even lead to war.

“We don’t want to repeat in Iran what happened in Iraq,” Lula said, a week after rebuffing US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s appeal for Brazilian support for a new round of tough sanctions.

Lula said that Brazil will not support the calls for sanctions, but added that during his visit to Tehran in May, he will try to convince President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to restart negotiations to allay concerns about the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program.

“I have already told them (Iranian officials) that a war must be avoided at all costs,” Lula said. “In whose interest is a war?”

Lula said Brazil is uniquely qualified to be an intermediary in negotiations with Iran because Brazil has a peaceful nuclear program and its growing economic clout allows it to play a more prominent role on the international stage.

Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in a meeting with the American Secretary of State said his country would continue its relations with Tehran.

The President also stressed that he was seeking a peaceful solution for Iran’s nuclear issue.

And Brazilian Foreign Minister, Celso Amorim after a meeting with Clinton in a news conference said the Brazilian President is trying to hold meetings with the world leaders over Iran’s nuclear issue after his visit to Iran.

He added that Brasilia is still hopeful of continuing talks about the issue.

Washington was seeking to dissuade Brazil from political and trade relations with Iran.

Clinton will visit Costa Rica and Guatemalais after Brazil. She had already travelled to Uruguay, Argentina and Chile.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said Wednesday that the international community should not “push Iran into a corner over its nuclear energy program.”

“It is not wise to push Iran into a corner. It is wise to establish negotiations,” the Brazilian president said before a meeting with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Wednesday.

“Brazil understands that it is possible to build another path, through talks,” he went on to say.

“I want for Iran the same thing I want for Brazil: That it may use nuclear energy for peaceful ends. If Iran goes beyond that, we will not be able to agree with it,” Lula further explained.

Clinton is currently in Brazil in an attempt to persuade the country’s officials to support new sanctions on the Islamic Republic over its nuclear program.

The US diplomat has already met with Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim and is scheduled to hold talks with the country’s president later.

Brazil has repeatedly supported the Iranian right to pursue its nuclear energy program.

Clinton is in on her fourth stop of a six-nation Latin America tour. She has so far visited Argentina, Uruguay and quake-ravaged Chile.

The Brazilian chief executive hosted his Iranian counterpart Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in November and plans to visit Iran on May 15.

The US and its allies accuse Iran of pursuing military ends through its nuclear program — a charge Tehran has repeatedly denied.

The International Atomic Energy Agency has found no shred of evidence to support the Western accusations.

Iran says its nuclear drive is being pursued within the framework of the IAEA regulations, adding that as a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty the country has every right to carry on with its nuclear energy program.

As the US seeks the broadest possible support for tougher Iran sanctions, the Obama administration is pushing Brazil to join Washington’s fray against Iran.

Brazil’s current position as a voter on the UN Security Council has prompted up-coming visits from the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and another diplomat, William Burns, to Brasilia, seeking support for a US initiative to impose more sanctions on Iran.

“Clearly, Brazil is an emerging power with growing influence in the region and around the world, and we believe that with that influence comes responsibility, and we will be talking to Brazil about the way forward with Iran,” the Washington Post quotes State Department spokesman, P.J. Crowley, as saying.

Iran and Brazil enjoy cordial relations with each other and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has thrown his weight behind Iran’s efforts to develop a nuclear program aimed at peaceful purposes.

In February 2010, the Brazilian envoy to the UN told the US and France that her country will not agree with tougher sanctions against Iran as it seeks more trade with the Islamic Republic.

“Negotiations should continue. If sanctions are pursued, this might block the negotiating track,” Ambassador Maria Viotti told Bloomberg.

Iran’s close ties with Brazil, the fifth largest country in the world, have been a cause of major concern for the US.

The US and some other Western countries endeavor to slap a fourth set of UN sanctions on Tehran. They allege that Iran is pursuing military intentions under the guise of its nuclear program.

Tehran has repeatedly and vehemently dismissed the accusations, asserting that its nuclear activities are peaceful and under the full supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Clinton’s recent calls for harsher sanctions against Iran were also snubbed by China after Beijing argued that diplomatic efforts had not yet been exhausted.

“We believe there is still diplomatic room for the Iranian nuclear issue,” Qin said.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has toured the quake-ravaged Haiti to observe the extent of destruction and to meet Haitian President Rene Preval.

Lula’s trip to Haiti took place on Thursday, according to AFP, more than a month after the deadly 7.0-magnitude earthquake that killed more than 200.000 people, including 20 Brazilians who were part of the United Nations mission in the Central American country.

To help the quake-devastated nation, Brazil has doubled its UN force in Haiti to 2,600 and dedicated 205 million dollars in aid for the country. However, much of the aid has not reached the nearly 1.2 million people left homeless in Haiti due to inefficient aid distribution efforts.

“The developed world is responsible for what happened in Haiti,” Lula said in comments a month ago.

“Perhaps now the earthquake will stir the shame of the human beings governing this planet, and we can now do what should have been done (for Haiti) 40 or 10 years ago.”

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva says Cuba’s revolutionary leader Fidel Castro looks “exceptionally well” after years of ailment.

On his last official visit to Cuba before the end of his tenure, Lula met with the former Cuban leader in Havana and discussed a number of international issues in an “emotional” get-together, Cuba’s media reported.

Lula said that Castro appeared “much different” and healthier this time after recuperating mostly from an intestinal surgery.

The two allies also spoke about the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark and conversed on the recent Rio Summit in Mexico.

The 83-year-old Fidel led Cuba for almost five decades after sweeping to power in a 1959 revolution.

He ceded power to his younger brother Raul Castro after the intestinal ailment in July 2006.

Fidel is said to still have a behind-the-scenes role in the government. He also keeps a high profile through his writings.

After Lula, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is scheduled to visit Fidel soon, the Cuban media said.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva says world powers should avoid isolating Iran over its nuclear program, as it would not help secure global peace.

“Peace in the world does not mean isolating someone,” Lula said at a joint press conference with his Mexican counterpart Felipe Calderon on Tuesday.

“I’m going to Iran in May to buy things from them,” he added.

The Brazilian president was in Mexico to take part in a summit of leaders of Latin America and the Caribbean.

World powers, led by the US, accuse Tehran of pursuing military applications under the guise of a civilian nuclear program, although IAEA inspectors stationed in Iran have so far been unable to substantiate their claim.

Despite the US stance, Brasilia has opposed efforts to impose sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program.

The Latin American state, which has its own nuclear energy program, has not backed US allegations that Tehran is seeking a nuclear weapon.

Also in November, Lula had stressed that his country supports Iran’s efforts to obtain “peaceful nuclear energy in full respect of international accords.”

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is set to go on a Latin American and Caribbean tour, which would include stops in Mexico, Cuba and Haiti.

Lula is to take part in the Latin American Summit in the Mexican resort city of Cancun and will meet with Mexican President Felipe Calderon on Tuesday.

He will then travel to Cuba, where he will meet with President Raul Castro and long-time leader Fidel Castro on Wednesday, Lula’s spokesman said Friday in Brasilia.

It would be the Brazilian leader’s fourth visit to Cuba during his presidency and he would meet Fidel Castro as a “friend,” the spokesman said.

The tour will conclude with stops in earthquake-ravaged Haiti and the Central American nation of El Salvador.

Lawmakers in the Honduran Congress are discussing whether ousted President Manuel Zelaya should return to power to serve the remainder of his presidency.

The debate on the issue kicked off on Wednesday as Porfirio Lobo was celebrating his victory in a controversial presidential election in the Central American country.

Porfirio has already declared his stance on the issue by calling on the Congress to decide the fate of the deposed constitutional leader, and Honduran officials are under increasing pressure from the regional states like Brazil that insist on Zelaya’s return to presidency.

Zelaya was ousted in a military coup on June 28 and has been sheltered in the Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa for over two months. The ousted president’s term will end on January 27.

“We can’t pretend nothing happened,” Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said in Portugal on Tuesday, before leaving a summit of leaders from Latin America, Spain and Portugal, the Associate Press reported.

“If this state of affairs is allowed to remain, democracy will be at serious risk in Latin and Central America.”

Though endorsed by the United States, the presidential election has failed to end the five-month long political crisis in the country.

Zelaya’s supporters have vowed to stage a protest outside the Congress. Zelaya says he will not accept any negotiations with the de facto regime.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has ended his tour of Latin American countries, leaving Venezuela for Senegal in western Africa.

At the end of his South American tour, Ahmadinejad reiterated that Iran and Venezuela would remain united against US “imperialism”.

“Today the people of Venezuela and Iran, friends and brothers in the trench warfare against imperialism, are resisting,” he said, adding they will “stand together until the end”.

Iran and Venezuela signed twelve cooperation agreements in housing, agriculture, fisheries, transportation, energy, environment, tourism and education.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez saw his Iranian counterpart off on Wednesday.

Ahmadinejad began on Sunday a tour of African and South American countries, which took him first to the western African country of Gambia and then to Brazil, Bolivia and Venezuela in South America.

He arrived in Brasilia on Monday with the goal of strengthening ties, which resulted in the signing of eight agreements between the two countries.

During his visit, President Ahmadinejad also garnered Brazil’s support for Iran’s nuclear program.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva backed Iran’s “use of peaceful nuclear energy, in full respect of international accords” and called for a “just solution” to the nuclear dispute.

The next leg of the tour took President Ahmadinejad to Bolivia, where two memoranda of understanding were signed by the two countries.

Senegal will be the last leg of President Ahmadinejad’s Africa-Latin America tour.

Iran and Brazil signed eight cooperation deals in Brasilia on Monday after talks between Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

On the second leg of his five-nation tour of South America and Africa, Ahmadinejad arrived in Brazil on Monday with the goal of strengthening ties between the two countries.

The new deals will pave the way for Iran and Brazil to enhance their cooperation in the areas of commerce, energy, and agricultural research and to lift the visa regime between the two countries.

After Ahmadinejad’s arrival, the Brazilian president expressed support for Iran’s right to access peaceful nuclear energy and called for a “just solution” to be found in the dispute between Iran and the West over the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program.

Lula stated that Brazil backed Iran’s plans to make use of “peaceful nuclear energy, in full respect of international accords.”

He also advised Iran to “continue contacts with interested countries to find a just solution to the nuclear issue.”

Brazil has repeatedly voiced its support for Iran’s nuclear program and has always opposed calls to impose sanctions on the country.

Ahmadinejad was in Gambia on Sunday.

After his one-day visit to Brazil, the Iranian president will travel to Venezuela, Bolivia, and Senegal.

Iran’s President is scheduled to begin his tour to five countries in Africa and South America on Sunday days after the Israeli president ended a tour aimed at rallying support against Tehran.

“Iranian President (Mahmoud Ahmadinejad) will visit Brazil, Bolivia, Venezuela, Senegal and Gambia,” IRINN reported on Sunday.

“Ahmadinejad is slated to visit Gambia in the first leg of his five-day trip,” it added.

He will then visit Brazil on the second day. Bolivia, Venezuela and Senegal will be the next targets.

Ahmadinejad’s tour is aimed at boosting political and economic ties with the five African and South American countries.

Israeli President Shimon Peres’s week-long visit to Brazil and Argentina, the first trip to the countries after 40 and 20 years respectively, comes amid Iran’s amicable relationship with Latin American countries.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has thrown his weight behind Iran’s efforts to develop a nuclear program aimed at peaceful purposes in September’s UN gathering in New York.

Iran’s close ties with Latin America and particularly Brazil, the fifth largest country, has been a cause of major concern both for Israel and its staunch ally, the US.

A day after Iran’s ambassador to Brazil announced that Ahmadinejad and a large entourage of 110 representatives from 65 companies were to visit Brasilia early May 2009, US Secretary of State dubbed the development as “quite disturbing.”

Blaming US President Barack Obama’s predecessor for “Iran gains” in the region, the top US diplomat noted “I don’t think in today’s world, where it’s a multi-polar world, where we are competing for attention and relationships with the Russians, the Chinese, the Iranians, that it’s in our interest to turn our backs on our own hemisphere.”

The Israeli president’s visit to the two Latin American countries, home to the largest Jewish community in the region, also led to angry demonstrations against the trip.

Demonstrators denounced Tel Aviv’s deadly offensive against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip which killed more than 1400 people, a large number of them women and children.

In Argentina, protestors carried placards which read “Get out of Argentina, murderer Shimon Peres”, “Death to Zionist-fascist Israel, officer of American imperialism in the Middle East, murderers of the Palestinian people!”.

In Sao Paulo, Brazil, the Israeli President had been hailed as “Shimon Hitler”, during protests. Demonstrators carried placards showing Peres, sporting a short Hitlerian mustache standing next to an Israeli flag upon which a swastika had been drawn.

Israeli settlement expansion on Palestinian territory must stop immediately, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has said.

“The expansion of West Bank settlements must be frozen,” Lula said after meeting with Acting Palestinian Authority chief, Mahmoud Abbas on Friday in Brazil.

“The borders of the future Palestinian state should be preserved, and freedom of movement needs to be guaranteed in the occupied territories,” Lula added.

In recent weeks, Brazil has hinted at ambitions to play a role in Middle East affairs as the country seeks to boost its international profile to match its growing economic status.

On Thursday, Brazil’s foreign ministry expressed “deep concern” over Israel’s announcement that it would build hundreds of new homes in a settlement in east Jerusalem Al-Quds.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has resisted Israeli pressure over an upcoming visit by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to his country.

“You do not build peace if you do not talk to all political and religious forces, those that want peace and those that oppose peace,” DPA quoted Lula as saying at a joint press conference with Israeli President Shimon Peres in Brasilia.

“We need to talk more and to find more partners who want to help in peace-building in the Middle East. And we do not refuse to talk to anyone, as long as in that chat we can get a word, or at least a comma, that might help build peace,” he said.

“You know that there will be no peace without political concessions,” the Brazilian President said, addressing Peres directly.

Ahmadinejad is expected in Brazil on November 23.

As the Iranian president is scheduled to set out on a state visit to Brazil in two weeks, Israeli President Shimon Peres has urged Brasilia to use its growing clout to curb Iran’s nuclear work.

“There needs to be a voice against destruction and against terror, a clear voice. I know that Brazil rejects threats, destruction, rejects terror, and the clear voice of Brazil has a strong echo in the entire world,” Peres said in a speech to the Brazilian Congress on Tuesday.

He claimed Iran was a ‘global danger’ and called on the South American powerhouse to play a role in international efforts to rein in Iran’s nuclear program.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad plans to visit Brazil on November 23 to improve the cordial relations between Tehran and Brasilia, who share the same stance on peaceful nuclear activities.

“I don’t want to argue about the president of Iran on Brazilian soil, but we think his policies are a global danger,” Peres said.

“I cannot ignore that Iran makes weapons and wants to destroy Israel,” he added.

Iran faces pressure to halt its nuclear enrichment, as world powers claim its program is aimed at building a nuclear bomb.

Along with world powers, Israel — the sole possessor of a nuclear warhead in the Middle East — accuses Iran of efforts to develop a nuclear bomb, maintaining that a ‘nuclear Iran’ is the prime existential threat to its security.

Tehran, however, has denied seeking nuclear weapons and called for the removal of all weapons of mass destruction from across the globe.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has defended Iran’s right to a peaceful nuclear program and opposed imposing sanctions against the country.

In September, he urged the West to stop pushing Iran over its nuclear program and called for dialogue and engagement with Iran to foster peace.

With the Iranian president scheduled to set out on a state visit to Brazil next month, Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki says Tehran and Brasilia share the same stance on peaceful nuclear activities.

“The two countries have a common position in relation to peaceful nuclear activities and insist on [defending their] rights,” Mottaki was quoted as saying by the Brazilian daily Folha de S. Paulo in a conference in Tehran.

Tehran says its nuclear program is aimed at the civilian applications of the technology and has called for the removal of weapons of mass destruction from around the globe. Western countries, however, accuse it of seeking nuclear weaponry.

Meanwhile, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has defended Iran’s right to a peaceful nuclear program, press tv reported.

Referring to the Brazilian president’s stance, Mottaki described the joint position of Iran and Brazil as “peaceful nuclear energy for everyone, and nuclear weapons for no one.”

Iran’s ambassador to Brasilia Mohsen Shaterzadeh said on Tuesday that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will visit Brazil on November 23.

Addressing university students in Brasilia, Shaterzadeh said Brazilians will be pleased to hear what President Ahmadinejad has in store for them.

“I am sure that people of Brazil will hear good news from President Ahmadinejad,” the Iranian envoy said.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has said Iran is entitled to the same rights as any other country in its use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.

“I defend for Iran the same rights with respect to nuclear energy that I do for Brazil,” Lula told reporters outside the United Nations General Assembly.

“If anyone is ashamed of having relations with Iran, it’s not Brazil,” he added.

The Brazilian president made the remark following his meeting with his Iranian counterpart Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Wednesday.

Ahmadinejad, for his part, assured Silva that his country’s nuclear program was intended solely for peaceful purposes.

Lula called Iran a ‘great partner’ and defended Brazil’s right to define its own foreign policy.

Western powers have declared that they might consider new sanctions against Iran, should the country refuse to halt its nuclear program through dialogue.

Tehran has repeatedly declared that it will not give up the Iranian nation’s legitimate rights under Western pressure.

Lula further pointed out that he would meet his Iranian counterpart in the country’s capital Tehran next year after Ahmadinejad travels to Brazil in November.

Meanwhile, the Brazilian president said international condemnation of Iran’s election results is no barrier to closer relations between the two countries.

“What right do I have, or any president, to question the election results in Iran,” Silva said. “It would be overly arrogant for Brazil, 12,000 kilometers away, to pass judgment on Iran’s elections. Nor would I want them to judge ours.”

Brazil has asked the US to hold a meeting with South American nations to discuss the regional unease over Washington’s use of military bases in Colombia.

The Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva made the request to the US President Barack Obama in a half-hour telephone conversation early on Friday.

Lula again made clear Brazil’s concerns over the United States being given access to seven bases in Colombia under a recently negotiated deal, and told Obama that he wanted guarantees that the US military would limit its actions there to Colombian territory.

Two of Colombia’s anti-US neighbors, Venezuela and Ecuador, have expressed fears that the bases might be used to stage an invasion of their countries.

Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia and Chile have also voiced concern.

Lula told Obama it ‘would be very important’ if he could attend a summit of UNASUR — Union of South American Nations grouping Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay and Venezuela — to discuss the issue.

The next UNASUR meeting is scheduled to take place in the Argentine ski resort of Bariloche on Friday, August 28.