BRASILIA, Nov. 23, 2009 (Xinhua) --

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Monday after meeting with his Brazilian counterpart Luiz Incio Lula da Silva that he supports the presence of Brazil in Asia and Middle East because "it can help promote peace and stability."

    The leaders met on Monday at the Itamaraty Palace, the Brazilian Ministry of External Relations, as part of the Iranian president's tour in Latin America, which will also take him to Bolivia and Venezuela.

    In a press statement, Ahmadinejad said that Iran and Brazil are two important countries located in "sensitive" areas, which share a foreign policy guided by a humanitarian perspective.

    The world today faces formidable challenges, he said, denouncing the proliferation of injustice and political fallacies, with humiliation and occupation of nations and "countries that want to continue their supremacy in the world."

    He also criticized the "capitalist system (that) with the crisis faced an impasse and no longer responds to the needs of nations."

    He said the Security Council of the United Nations (UN) failed in the past 60 years in ensuring the world peace and must be reformed.

    In that context, he expressed Iran's support to Brazilian claim for a permanent seat on the Security Council.

    "The system that emerged from World War II and was the genesis of many disorders of the modern world came to an end. We need a new model," he said.

    Regarding the controversy over Iran's nuclear program, Ahmadinejad reaffirmed that its purposes are purely peaceful and that his country opposes the existence of weapons of mass destruction.

    President Lula da Silva, meanwhile, defended Iran's right to develop peaceful nuclear technology, and pleaded for a Middle East without nuclear weapons.

    Ahmadinejad's visit happens two weeks after the Israeli President Shimon Peres had been in Brasilia, and a few days after a visit of the leader of the Palestinian National Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, who met with Da Silva on Thursday in Salvador da Bahia, north-eastern Brazil.

    The three visitors welcomed Brazil in peace negotiations. The Brazilian president will visit Israel, Palestine and Jordan in March and Iran in April or May 2010. 

Editor: Mu Xuequan

Iran starts second stage of aerial defense maneuver

    TEHRAN, Nov. 23, 2009 (Xinhua) --

Iran started the second stage of large-scale joint aerial defense maneuver on Monday to prepare itself for any potential attack against the country, the official IRNA news agency reported.

    The five-day exercises dubbed "Asemane Velayat 2" started on Sunday at the scale of 600,000 square km of central, western and southern parts of Iran in which both the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) and Iran's regular armed forces have participated.

    The Commander of Iran's Khatamol-Anbia anti-aircraft unit Brigadier General Gholamhossein Molaei said Monday that the Iranian forces have displayed their ability to swiftly react to any jamming and electronic warfare in the second stage of the war games, according to IRNA.

    The spokesman of the maneuver, Brigadier General Ali Moqiseh, also said that in this stage air defense units countered the enemy's reconnaissance missions, local satellite channel Press TV said in another report on Monday.

    "Iran's military industry is now capable of meeting all of the country's defensive needs in terms of air defense and missile systems," Moqiseh was quoted as saying.

    The maneuver has three stages including preparation of military units, reconnaissance flights and dog fights, IRNA said.

    Brigadier General Ahmad Miqani, head of the air-defense headquarters of Iran's armed forces, said Saturday that the maneuver is aimed at developing the country's aerial defense against any potential attacks -- especially on the country's nuclear facilities.