BRASILIA (Dispatches) --
| Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva says Tehran should continue to be an important commercial partner for Brasília in the coming years.
“For the first time, I met with Ebrahim Raisi, the president of Iran, one of the countries that will join the BRICS as of 2024,” Lula wrote in a post published on his X (formerly known as X) page, after a summit of the bloc in Johannesburg.
“Iran was the largest importer of Brazilian products in the Middle East in 2022, having imported almost $4.3 billion worth of commodities, and should continue to be an important commercial partner for Brazil in the coming years.”
Brazil is a major trade partner for Iran. Its exports to Iran include animal feed and meat, among other products, while imports mostly cover fertilizers, including urea supplied by Iranian petrochemical companies.
Iran hopes to double its trade with Brazil within a few years to reach an annual target of $10 billion, Fakhreddin Amerian, who chairs Iran’s trade center in Brazil and heads the Iran-Brazil Joint Chamber of Commerce (IBJCC), said in early June.
Raisi and his Brazilian counterpart met on the sidelines of the 15th meeting of the BRICS group of emerging economies in South Africa’s largest city of Johannesburg.
The Iranian president congratulated Lula on his re-election, expressing satisfaction over the enhancement of bilateral relations between Iran and Brazil.
Raisi said U.S. officials have acknowledged that Washington’s so-called campaign of “maximum pressure” against Iran has failed to achieve its goals, emphasizing that the Islamic Republic has managed to make advances in science and technology regardless of cruel sanctions.
Lula, for his part, felicitated Iran on its induction into BRICS, stressing that there exist abundant opportunities such as scientific exchanges, technology, academic expertise and cultural issues for member states to expand cooperation and relations.
The Brazilian president described sanctions as “a criminal weapon against nations,” stating that they affect the people of the targeted countries.
Lula also criticized the current structure of the United Nations, saying it is incapable of preventing the violations of other nations’ rights by certain powers.
He underscored that the present-day structures need to be redesigned, saying BRICS should be able to introduce
 a new economic logic and form a new order in the world.
BRICS was formed by and initially consisted of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, which collectively represent around 40% of the global population and a quarter of the world’s gross domestic product (GDP).
Iran was among dozens of countries that sought membership in BRICS and had submitted a formal application to join the body.
Separately, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said the bond between Moscow and Tehran will withstand foreign pressure and their military ties will go ahead regardless of U.S.-led attempts to undermine the relation.
“We are independent states and do not succumb to the dictates of the United States and its satellites,” he said.
Ryabkov said there have been no changes in the two sides’ collaboration within the military sector. “There are no changes, and cooperation with Iran will continue.”
Ryabkov’s statement follows reports earlier this month, in which Washington had requested the Islamic Republic to stop providing Russia with military drones.
However, Iran has criticized attempts to link its military cooperation with Russia to the Ukraine war. Tehran, also, has repeatedly denied supplying Moscow with drones.
A high-ranking Iranian general outlined a new strategy to bolster the country’s naval power and presence in international waters, calling for close maritime cooperation with China and Russia to counter the U.S.
In comments at the meeting of a council making policies for a national conference on maritime threats and opportunities, Major General Yahya Rahim Safavi said it would be impossible to define the position of Iran, the Islamic Revolution and the resistance front in the “geometry of the new world order” without strong presence in high seas and oceans.
“In order to counter the cruel sanctions imposed by the US and its allies, Iran must promote the strategy of sea-oriented economy and boost its maritime power with the presence of its trade and military fleet in the oceans and seas and by using the network of South-North and East to West corridors in cooperation with the Russian Federation and China,” the top military adviser to Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei said.
He added that a requisite for Iran to become a maritime power is its presence in the Antarctic for research and scientific activities.
“We need to connect the maritime and ground geostrategic domains. This is a new strategy as Iran’s geographical location gives us such a capacity,” the general noted.
In a meeting with a number of commanders and officials of Iran’s navy in November 2022, Ayatollah Khamenei stressed the need for the Navy to bolster and maintain its presence in international waters.
The Leader also emphasized the need for the Navy to boost its combat capabilities and defense equipment and to continue navigation in remote and international waters.