As soon as the war between and , left-wing parties and institutions published a series of repudiation notes, each containing different impressions about the conflict in . In common, they condemned the military confrontation, following the government’s position and the tradition of Brazilian diplomacy of seeking peace and encouraging multilateralism.
However, some segments of the left spare criticism of the Iranian theocratic regime, which persecutes opponents, oppresses women and punishes homosexuals with the death penalty. Some quibble, preferring to focus criticism on the American president, and others remain silent when asked to provide further clarification, as in the case of .
In a note published on Saturday (28), the first day of the war, the organization stated that “imperialists and Zionists maintain their tradition of sacrificing children, whether in the genocide in Palestine or on Jeffrey Epstein’s Caribbean island”, a reference to the American financier who sexually abused minors. Also according to the note, Iran, a partner of China and Russia, would be the biggest obstacle to Zionist dominance in Western Asia.
The MST press office reported that Judite Santos, from the internationalism sector, was not available for interviews. Last month, social scientist Jessé Souza became the target of criminal news for linking Epstein’s crimes to Zionism.
On the radical left, there are those who defend Iran. National president of , Rui Costa Pimenta denies that the country is a theocracy. According to Pimenta, this is a government that has a “great influence of religion”.
The president of the party also states that the growing tension between Iran and the West would justify, “to a certain extent”, exceptional measures. Asked about the Iranian regime’s repression against the demonstrations that began in December, Pimenta said “it’s okay”, because the protests, he said, were not peaceful.
Iran admitted the deaths of 3,000 people, classified as terrorists. The number, however, is higher in the count: 4,519 deaths and another 9,000 under investigation. Critical of Lula’s foreign policy, Pimenta says that the Brazilian government’s stance is cowardly, because it only asks the parties to restrict themselves.
A member of a more left wing of the PT, Valter Pomar, director of international cooperation at the Perseu Abramo Foundation, praises President Lula’s position. On his blog, he wrote a text entitled “Iran has the right to defend itself”, in which he criticizes equivalences between Israeli Prime Minister Trump and Ali Khamenei, supreme leader of Iran, who died at the beginning of the war.
“Trump e Bibi [Binyamin Netanyahu] They are aggressors, in light of international law. There is no equivalence”, he wrote to the reporter, via email.
Pomar says the right thing to do would be to press for an end to the war. Asked what he thinks of the Iranian theocracy, he hesitated. “My opinion is the same as that of the vast majority of Iranians: it is time to defend Iran from the aggression carried out by the US ‘regime’ and the US ‘regime’.”
Since the beginning of the conflict, the Persians have been divided between mourning and celebrating the death of their supreme leader.
With the 1979 revolution, Shah Reza Pahlavi’s monarchy fell and an Islamic republic was established, led by Ayatollah Khomeini. The Iranian regime is governed by a Shiite clergy, who faces economic sanctions from the West and domestic political opposition.
Granddaughter of the couple Luiz Carlos Prestes and Maria Prestes, Ana Prestes, avoids criticizing Iran. She writes, via text messages, that the regime was decided by the people themselves, who must arbitrate their future.
“My opinion is that this was a decision made by the Iranian people immediately after the 1979 revolution. Others participated in that revolution, like the communists, and were defeated. Only the Iranian people can decide for a change. I would not support Brazil adopting a theocracy, but it is up to me to respect the sovereignty of the Iranian people in their decisions.”
Federal deputy Ivan Valente (-SP) claims to disagree with theocracy in the Persian country, where there is no democracy. However, he says that the Islamic republic was stabilized and that, regarding matters of customs, “we have another culture”.
“What Iran has been suffering is international isolation. Western countries forgive the dictator of Saudi Arabia, but Iran does not,” says Valente. “We are not going to defend the Iranian regime, but we are going to defend that the people resolve their internal conflicts. Israel is an artificial and terrorist state, what they did in Gaza was a genocide.”
Brazil has had diplomatic and commercial relations with Iran for more than a century. In 2010, Lula acted as a mediator in an agreement on the Iranian nuclear program, which did not go ahead.
Professor of political science at UFMG, Leonardo Avritzer says that some sectors of the left have a dichotomous reasoning when analyzing the situation in Iran.
“It is a vision based on an issue of imperialism versus non-imperialism. Not that the attack itself is legitimate, but the defense of the regime shows a lack of understanding of its undesirability”, he states. Ultimately, Avritzer says, the radical left is driven by anti-Americanism.
“We are in the third month of the year, and the United States has already attacked two countries. There are reasons that justify anti-Americanism, but the question is: will there be a new regime in Iran?”
