Brasilia, January 9 (RHC)-- Brazil's Workers Party leader Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva says that far-right President Jair Bolsonaro should stop "kneeling" before U.S. President Donald Trump with his support of the U.S. offensive launched on January 2nd against Iran.

Lula emphasized, during the live interview by DCM, that Brazil does not have to get involved in this conflict and called the Brazilian president's adulation of Trump as a "lack of knowledge" about the subtleties of diplomacy.  "Brazil is a peace builder (...) unlike the U.S. that is always throwing stones," he expressed in his analysis of the current government's position before the escalation of the crisis in the Middle East.

By accusing Tehran of terrorism, Bolsonaro assumes a position, criticized even by sectors of the Brazilian armed forces, and that could mean the rupture of bilateral relationships.  The Acting Head of the Mission in the Persian nation Maria Cristina Lopes was summoned twice by the local authorities to explain Brasilia's position.

Interest groups that sympathize with Bolsonarism, such as agribusiness, do not adhere to hostile discourse against a country that in 2019 imported $2.1 billion of corn, soybeans and Brazilian meats. 

Lula went on to say that by agreeing with the White House policy, Bolsonaro embarked on the personal reelection strategy of Trump. And assured that the Brazilian role in this crisis should be, that about ten years ago he traveled to Tehran as a mentor of a nuclear agreement built with the consensus of Iran and Turkey and the endorsement of the U.S. and France.

"The United States always needs enemies.  This smells like Trump's election campaign.  He knows that the elections are not easy, he knows that he can lose the elections, although this is not certain, and he knows that a war can help him.  This is very delicate because Iran has a millenary cultural tradition" and the conflict can spread because "China has an interest in Iran, Russia has an interest in Iran," the former head of state added.