Who Cancelled the Visit?
Iranian President’s two-day visit to Brazil which was to take place on 6th of May has been cancelled. This was announced yesterday 5th of May by the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs minutes before its press conference for informing the media about Ahmadinejad’s plans on his visit to this South American country.
No news has been published by Mr. President’s office our the Iranian foreign ministry on the cancellation of the trip yet while three days earlier it was the president’s office which gave the news of the visit to the news media and on Monday foreign ministry spokesman Hasan Qashqavi dubbed Brazil as an influential, major economic power in Latin America and stated that Ahmadinejad’s visit to this country would prepare the conditions for further cooperation specially on economic issues.
Qashqavi also insisted that Iran and Brazil’s relations have been never and will not be influence by a third party. He added that leaders of the two countries know what their national interests are and regulate bilateral ties base on these interests. A few days ago, after Israel’s protest, the Brazilian foreign minister had reaffirmed that Ahmadinejad will visit Brazil on Wednesday.
There are yet doubt-raising points about the reasons of cancelling the visit, and it is not clear why the president has decided not to travel to the foremost economic power of South America, especially when Ahmadinejad never misses one single opportunity to flex muscles in United States’ political backyard and has made trips to countries with secondary importance in this region.
Two plausible explanations come to mind here:
1. Due to pressures by major countries and demonstrations held in some Brazilian cities in protest to Ahmadinejad’s visit, Brazil has respectfully apologized from Iran and asked for cancellation or postponement of the trip. The two sides have decided to announce the news in a way that doesn’t damage their face. Don’t forget Hillary Clinton’s remarks a few days ago about Iran and China’s increasing influence in Latin America and a letter sent by head of the Israeli Knesset to his Brazilian counterpart calling Iran a threat and asking for isolation of our country.
2. Cancelling the trip was done by the Iranian side. If that is true, we hope that the diplomatic body gives the reasons with honesty. As foreign ministry’s spokesman reiterated on his Monday press conference, Ahmadinejad’s visit will not be influence by a third party and both sides know what their national interests are.
However, a closer look at the statements by Iran makes things more complicated. In defending the visit, Mr. Qashqavi had said that the details of the visit and its date are not set yet and will be announced in future. Most probably he had sensed the likely cancellation of the visit, as it was announced by Brazil’s foreign ministry some hours later.
No one denies Mr. President’s strong desire for making foreign visits. His trips have probably outnumbered that of all his predecessors in aggregate. Of course why he favors only a few countries is a matter of question, as is the reason for visit Comoros and Djibouti while ignoring African major power South Africa and cancelling preplanned visit to regional power Brazil despite previous announcements.
Javid Ghorban Oghli is head of the foreign diplomacy committee of Mir Hosein Musavi’s electoral campaign.