The Brazilian left’s reaction to the Iranian government’s repression of protesters is divided between silence on the part of the leadership and criticism of the regime accompanied by attacks on United States foreign policy.
according to human rights organizations, since the end of December in acts initiated due to the devaluation of the rial and the rise in inflation.
Most of the left avoids taking a position on the issue, sensitive to this political field due to Iran’s history of dialogue with the Lula government. Sought, and did not respond to requests for official position sent by the report.
Federal deputies (PT-RJ), Sâmia Bomfim (PSOL-SP) and Ivan Valente (PSOL-SP), in addition to PT president, Edinho Silva, did not respond to contacts. Sâmia published on her networks this Wednesday (14), after being contacted by the reporter, a note in which she says she denounces “the violence of the Iranian regime” and “foreign attempts at guardianship and interference in the destiny of the Iranian people, which only serve the interests of the great powers”.
Orlando Silva (-SP) did not respond to the questions sent. Historian and communist influencer Jones Manoel declined to comment. The secretary general of the Presidency, (PSOL), did not comment, and Tarcísio Motta (PSOL-RJ) said through his advisor that he was unable to grant an interview at this time.
The relationship between Iran and Brazil included the presence of the vice president () at the inauguration of Iranian president, Masoud Pezeshkian, in 2024, and condemnations of Israeli attacks on the country, gestures publicly appreciated by Tehran.
The trade balance between the countries is favorable to Brazil, but may be affected after the president of the United States, announces that he will sanction Iran’s trading partners. The defense of national sovereignty has also been central to the Lula government’s discourse in the face of Trump’s recent advances in Latin America, especially after actions against Venezuela.
The PC do B stated that it is following the escalation of tensions in the country and that “Trump’s claim that he will save the Iranian people or that he is concerned about the economic suffering of its population caused precisely by the embargoes and sanctions imposed on the country for decades by the USA is false.”
“Iran is the country that most supports the Palestinian people and opposes the genocidal Israeli government in the Middle East. And this bothers the US greatly.”
The party also published a note stating that Iran must resolve internal issues without US interference.
The federal deputy (PSOL-SP) stated that “there is no anti-imperialist ideal that is capable of justifying a regime that, in the end, imposes itself through force and the denial of basic rights to the Iranian people.”
“Women without the right to their own bodies, an ever-deepening social abyss, the unbridled accumulation of power and wealth by the political class, the end of the separation between religion and State, the denial of the existence of LGBTQIA+ people, the restriction of individual freedoms and control of the press describe today’s Iran,” said the congresswoman, “and also describe Donald Trump’s plans for the United States.”
She also stated that she fears possible interference from the United States, “not because of any appreciation for the Iranian leadership, but because of the knowledge that a people who, long ago, stopped being the owners of their own country can, after much struggle and suffering, continue in this condition even if the ayatollah falls.”
The federal deputy (PSOL-RJ), whose mandate is suspended for six months, stated that he will not make statements that could “corroborate external interference” conducted by the United States.
“The biggest weapon given to the right is to rub shoulders with Donald Trump in the face of the series of absurdities he has committed in the world,” he said.
According to him, selective criticism of regimes under pressure from Washington reinforces the idea of the US as a “sheriff of the world” and supports “illegal and criminal” attacks.
“The United States threatens to attack Iran, has already attacked, threatens to attack Colombia and puts the same type of pressure on Latin America as a whole,” he stated.
“This does not mean legitimizing or supporting this or that regime.”
State deputy Paulo Fiorilo (PT-SP) stated that the position defended by the PT camp is based on respect for sovereignty, in opposition to the practices of the president of the United States. “What Trump did in Venezuela and what he threatens to do in Iran are absurd,” he said.
He also countered criticism from the right about supposed selectivity on the left.
“If we look at the position of the right towards authoritarian governments, former president Jair Bolsonaro spoke with several of them in the same way. They demand self-criticism, but they do not face the very relationships they establish, including here in and in Central America, where they praise authoritarian regimes”, he stated.
State deputy Renato Freitas (PT-PR) said that the demonstrations, even if legitimate, carry “the fingerprints of the USA, which encourages protests not because they are concerned about the Iranian population, but out of interests of dominance over the country”.
For former Bank of Brazil consultant and PC do B activist Elias Jabbour, international sanctions have worsened economic difficulties in Iran for decades and help explain the current scenario.
“It is a country that is expelled from the international financial system,” he stated.
“Human rights and democracy only fully survive in countries that have sovereignty,” said Jabbour, who is president of the Pereira Passos Institute, of Rio City Hall.
The Lula government itself adopted a cautious tone regarding the issue. On Tuesday (13), Itamaraty lamented the deaths in the protests and stated that it is “only up to the Iranians to decide, in a sovereign manner, about the future of their country”, without criticizing the regime.
The statement came hours after Trump urged protesters to “take over Iranian institutions” and announced the cancellation of any dialogue with Tehran. Iran accused Trump of inciting the country’s political destabilization, in a letter sent to the UN.
