BBC with comments by NPSGlobal, 23 Nov 2009.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was received amongst protests by Brazilian groups creating discomfort not only on the Brazilian people but also within the main regional actors.

Lula’s welcoming of the Iranian delegation puts under serious doubts the benefits perceived by Brazil over the Iranian nuclear program, highly questioned after the discovery of the clandestine facility at Qom. The scheduled meeting between Ahmadinejad and Lula could be a gesture towards the United States, with the hopes of gaining public recognition as a key and independent regional actor, but instead damages Brazil's while granting legitimacy to a very questioned head of state.  

BBC News 

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is due in Brazil, where he will lead a large delegation of business leaders.

He is due to meet President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and sign trade deals before visiting Congress and speaking at a university in Brasilia.

Brazil backs Iran's right to a peaceful nuclear program. The day-long visit has already drawn criticism from Israel and members of the US Congress. Around 500 people from gay, Jewish and Christian groups protested on Sunday.

'Lends legitimacy'

It is the first visit by an Iranian president to Brazil, which maintains close ties to the US, Israel and other countries trying to block Iran's nuclear ambitions.

But Brazilian President Lula has said he opposes further sanctions on Iran, and called for diplomacy instead.

US State Department spokesman Robert Wood declined to comment on the meeting, but said he hoped Brazil would raise some of the US concerns with the Iranian leader. New York congressman Eliot Engel said President Lula was making "a serious error" by "lending legitimacy" to Mr Ahmadinejad.

Israel too called it a "mistake" for Brazil to host him, AFP reports.

Since coming to power in 2005, Mr Ahmadinejad has sought to build ties with leftist south American leaders. His five-nation tour also takes him to Venezuela and Bolivia, with stops in the West African countries of Senegal and Gambia on the way home.

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