Antonio Patriota, who took office New Year’s Day in the new government led by President Dilma Rousseff, said it was debatable whether sanctions imposed by the United Nations, the United States and the European Union, were having an impact on Tehran or would ultimately change its stance on uranium enrichment.
“I am in favor of diplomacy, of dialogue,” Patriota told Reuters in an interview last Wednesday. “It is debatable whether [sanctions] are producing a desirable effect.”
Patriota, 56, warned that any future negotiations could be complicated by progress Tehran continues to make in its nuclear work. But he said Brazil would hold back on any new initiatives.
“I think it would be a little bit too soon for us to undertake another attempt of the nature we took last year,” he said. “But we are keeping channels open.”
Political analysts have suggested that Patriota, a former Brazilian ambassador to the United States, could have a less confrontational foreign policy approach than his predecessor, Celso Amorim, particularly on an issue such as Iran.
Together with Turkey, Brazil brokered a deal with Tehran last May that the then-government of Brazil thought would get the negotiating track moving again. But nothing came of it.