WASHINGTON, April 13: Brazilian Defense Minister Nelson Jobim has stated that Brasilia prefers diplomacy for solving the dispute over Iran's nuclear program rather than tough measures.

The US and some of its allies want sanctions to be imposed on Iran to force it to halt its uranium enrichment activities.

However, China, Russia, and many members of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), including Brazil, insist that diplomacy must be given a chance.

"Brazil's position is to pursue talks to the last," the German Press Agency (DPA) quoted Jobim as saying on Monday.

He also urged the international community to give Tehran "guarantees that it will not be attacked" by the US and its staunch ally Israel.

US President Barack Obama announced a new US nuclear strategy last week, including a pledge not to use nuclear weapons against countries that do not possess them.

Iran and North Korea were pointedly excepted from that pledge because Washington accuses them of not cooperating with the international community on non-proliferation standards.

Iran says the US nuclear threat against the Islamic Republic is a clear violation of the UN Charter.

Jobim went on to say that the world should "analyze Iran's geo-strategic surroundings" with "many nuclear-armed countries."

He says Iranian society is "different and very theocratic" and one should "not think exclusively about the Western model."

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who is scheduled to visit Iran in May, is also attending the nuclear summit.