US presses Brazil on Iran sanctions

The Obama administration is making a face-to-face argument to Brazil to support tough new U.N. sanctions against Iran, with upcoming visits by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and another senior diplomat.

Brazil now holds a voting seat on the U.N. Security Council, and its support is important as the U.S. argues Iran should be penalized for refusing to come clean on its suspect nuclear program. Brazil has been cool to the prospect of hitting Iran with new sanctions.

Brazil’s backing is important because, as a resolution takes shape, the U.S. and its partners are looking for the broadest possible support on the council to impress on Iran the seriousness of the matter.

Clinton and America’s highest-ranking career diplomat, William Burns, will each visit senior Brazilian officials in Brazil’s capital to try to persuade the government to help impose fresh penalties on Iran. Burns will be in Brasilia on Friday, and Clinton will be there next week.

“Clearly, Brazil is an emerging power with growing influence in the region and around the world, and we believe that with that influence comes responsibility, and we will be talking to Brazil about the way forward with Iran,” State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said Thursday.

The United States is spearheading the international drive to impose a fourth set of U.N. sanctions on Iran for rejecting demands to halt activities that could lead to the development of nuclear arms. Iran says its program is meant for civilian energy production, but the U.S. and others think it is a cover for weapons development.

Winning support for additional sanctions has been a major focus of the administration’s foreign policy agenda for the past several months since it became clear that Iran was not responding to President Barack Obama’s offers of engagement and would not accept a package of incentives to stop enriching uranium that could be used to fuel a bomb.

Clinton will be in Brazil on March 3, midway through a five-nation trip to Latin America that begins on Sunday and will also take her to Uruguay, Chile, Costa Rica and Guatemala.