BRASILI - Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Monday urged finding a "just solution" over Tehran's nuclear program.
Lula, speaking in a joint media conference with visiting Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, he reiterated that Brazil backed Iran's quest for "peaceful nuclear energy in full respect of international accords."
He appealed to Ahmadinejad to "continue contacts with interested countries for a just and balanced solution on the nuclear issue in Iran."
Ahmadinejad, for his part, voiced support for Brazil's bid to one day become a permanent member of the UN Security Council. Brazil is to take one of the non-permanent seats -- those without the power of veto -- in 2010 and 2011.
"We support a reformed UN Security Council and for Brazil to have a permanent seat," he said.
He noted that the council "has failed over the past 60 years because of the veto power of a small number of countries, a source of insecurity for several countries in the world."
Lula has repeatedly backed Tehran's nuclear program, and said he opposed international sanctions on Iran.
Ahmadinejad also said that threats of military action against Iran by arch foes Israel and the United States were no longer a concern, but that neither country had the courage to carry out an attack.
"The age of military attacks is over, now we've reached the time for dialogue and understanding. Weapons and threats are a thing of the past," the Iranian told a joint press conference at the close of his one-day visit.
That's clear "even for mentally challenged people," he said answering a reporter's question.
Besides, he added, "those you mention (Israel and United States) don't have the courage to attack Iran. They're not even thinking about it."
Ahmadinejad's visit to Brazil was the key leg of a five-nation tour to sympathetic Latin American and African seen backing Tehran's vision of a new world order in which the United States is not dominant.
The itinerary began in Gambia, and after Brazil was to continue with Bolivia, Venezuela and Senegal.
The Iranian president was accompanied by a 300-strong delegation, half of which were Iranian businessmen working towards Tehran's goal of lifting bilateral trade with Brazil from one billion dollars today to 15 billion dollars in the future.
Lula, a moderate leftist wary of US influence in the world, has reached out to Iran as part of a broader strategy to implicate Brazil in seeking peace in the Middle East.
In his weekly radio broadcast on Monday, he said: "You can't move forward by isolating Iran. If Iran is an important player in all this discord, it's important that someone sits down with Iran, talks with Iran and tries to establish a point of balance, so that we can return to a degree of normality in the Middle East."
Days before receiving Ahmadinejad, Lula made a point of welcoming visits by Israeli President Shimon Peres and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
On Monday, he announced he would travel to Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian Territories in March next year.
After his 24-hour Brazilian leg, Ahmadinejad was to depart for Bolivia for talks with his counterpart Evo Morales, then on to Venezuela to see his "friend" Hugo Chavez. Both Morales and Chavez are strongly critical of the United States.
Iran insists it has the right to develop nuclear technology, which it says is aimed at generating energy for its growing population.
Although Iran has oil, it is still dependent on petrol imports to meet about 40 percent of domestic consumption.
Israel is the only country in the Middle Ease that actually has nuclear weapons.
Observers say due the strong Jewish and pro-Israel lobbies in the US and some European countries, these countries have taken a hypocritical stance in relation to nuclear issues in the region.
Tehran had repeatedly protested against Israeli and US war threats, warning them that it would retaliate in the event of any strike against Iran.
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