 In recent years, Brazil has continued to engage in normal diplomatic relations with Iran, despite the international sanctions against Iran’s nuclear program.Brasília considers that the International Atomic Energy Agency, not the United Nations Security Council, should resolve the dispute over the program.In September 2007, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva stated that "Iran has the right to proceed with peaceful nuclear research and should not be punished just because of Western suspicions it wants to make an atomic bomb," and that "so far, Iran has committed no crime regarding United Nations guidelines on nuclear weapons."