A Warning to the U.S. From Brazil and Iran

Excerpt

Last month, as newly elected Brazilian President Luiz Ignacio Lula da Silva was preparing to visit President Joe Biden at the White House, a crisis loomed over U.S.-Brazil bilateral relations: Two Iranian warships were heading to Brazil, where they intended to pay an official visit. The administration publicly expressed displeasure at the visit and Lula, a seasoned politician beginning a third presidential mandate, declined the ships permission to dock. Why mar an important meeting centered on condemning their right-wing populist nemeses, Donald Trump and Jair Bolsonaro, promoting a robust progressive agenda focused on fighting climate change, and demonstrating American support for Brazil’s aspirations to become a global power?

But having pocketed important U.S. commitments, Lula then turned around and greenlit the Iranian ships’ visit. The ships docked in Rio de Janeiro on February 26 for an unprecedented one-week stay.