Amorim: Security Council composition is “scandalous”

Brazil’s foreign minister, Celso Amorim, criticized the United Nations Security Council following the vote in favor of further sanctions against Iran. “There has to be a reformulation because the present format is post-World War II. The situation is scandalous because the five permanent members are all nuclear powers,” said the minister, making the point that as nuclear powers they do not have the right to make demands on other countries that want nuclear power.

In congressional testimony at a public hearing yesterday, Amorim declared that Brazil was able to vote against the sanctions because it does not owe anything to the International Monetary Fund and is free to follow its convictions.

“Our position is in favor of a negotiated solution for the impasse created by the Iranian nuclear program,” declared the minister.
“Brazil is not defending Iran. We are defending peace. Peace that the United States and the International Atomic Energy Agency say they also want,” said Amorim. “Brazil is not isolated. I think we are in good company. I do not see any reduction in our power. As for me, I go out without bodyguards and talk to people on the street.”

As for Brazil’s relations with Iran, Amorim described them as “normal but not intense.”

As for the Security Council, there are negotiations underway to make changes. More permanent members, without veto power, would be added: two from Asia, one from Latin America, one from Eastern Europe and one from Africa. But the negotiations are complex and slow.