RIO DE JANEIRO, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- Brazilian Foreign Minister Antonio Patriota denied Monday that his country's relations with Iran are shaken.
The statement was in response to an interview with Iranian presidential media advisor Ali Akbar Javanfekr published in the daily Folha de Sao Paulo. Javanfekr for his part said Brazil-Iran relations have deteriorated under President Dilma Rousseff.
The Iranian official said President Rousseff's foreign policy put an end to "years of good relations" with Iran achieved by her predecessor, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
Rousseff, who took office in January 2011, backed a mandate for a UN special rapporteur on Iran's human rights record last year.
Patriota, however, described Brasilia's relationship with Tehran as normal.
"At the WTO ministers' meeting, I talked to Iranian authorities and saw interest in good trade and political relations," he said.
Under Lula's administration, Brazil, along with Turkey, signed a nuclear fuel swap deal with Iran in May 2010, which was aimed at averting UN sanctions over the country's controversial nuclear program.
