11 seconds ago 2009-11-23T01:00:03-08:00
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israeli President Shimon Peres on Monday headed on a tour of Brazil and Argentina to counter arch-foe Iran's influence in Latin America, the second such trip in months by a senior Israeli official.
The elder statesman was to arrive in Brasilia early on Tuesday for the first visit to Brazil by an Israeli president since 1966. On Sunday he will continue to Argentina in the first such visit in 20 years.
The trip comes just two weeks before Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, president of the Jewish state's arch-foe Iran, goes to Brazil.
Peres's visit aims to reinforce "strategic cooperation" between Israel and Brazil, as well as with Argentina, his spokesman Ayelet Frish told AFP.
"The president will discuss Iranian infiltration in South America and explain to his hosts that Israel has nothing against the Iranian people, but against Ahmadinejad, a fanatical leader who is more interested in enriching uranium than in the well-being of his people," she said.
Israel considers Iran its arch-enemy due to repeated statements by Ahmadinejad questioning the Holocaust and saying the Jewish state is doomed to be "wiped off the map."
Widely considered the Middle East's sole if undeclared nuclear power, Israel along with the West suspects Iran of trying to develop atomic weapons under the guise of a civilian nuclear programme, charges Tehran has vehemently denied.
Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman toured Latin America in July, when he called for Brazil to use its ties with Iran to help counter Tehran's nuclear programme.
But Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim said at the time his country would not change its stance, and defended Tehran's stated aim of nuclear development for "exclusively non-military" use.
Iran's influence in America's backyard has long been cited as a concern in Washington, especially regarding links between Ahmadinejad and Venezuela's firebrand leftist leader Hugo Chavez.
In Brazil, Peres is due to meet with President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and become the first senior Israeli official to address the Brazilian parliament.
In Argentina, Peres, who is accompanied by representatives of 16 Israeli firms including weapons manufacturers, will meet with President Christina Kirchner and initiate a bilateral business forum.
He will also attend a memorial for the victims of the 1992 bombing at the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires that killed 22 people and wounded 200.
Argentina accuses Iran of having masterminded the 1994 car bombing and of using the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah to execute it. Buenos Aires has also sought the arrest of five Iranian officials and a Lebanese national in connection with the attack.
