AFP - Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Monday began a controversial visit to Brazil, the key leg of a tour to sympathetic Latin American and African countries he sees backing Tehran's vision of "a new world order."

Iran's nuclear program and efforts by a suspicious West to restrict it hung over the itinerary, which took in Gambia, Brazil, Bolivia, Venezuela and Senegal.

Ahmadinejad told state media before leaving Tehran that those countries, together with Iran, "have the ability to restore a new world order."

Brazil was the main component in his strategy to bolster ties with nations that could stand up to what Tehran sees as a US- and European-led campaign to hobble its ambitions of being the Middle East's pre-eminent power.

"Iran and Brazil have a common vision about the situation in the world and are determined to develop their cooperation," said the hardliner, who came to power in 2005.

Ahmadinejad flew into Brasilia from Gambia for a 24-hour stay that started with a meeting with Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

Lula, a moderate leftist wary of US influence in the world, has reached out to Iran as part of a broader strategy to implicate Brazil in seeking peace in the Middle East.

His country will take a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council in 2010 and 2011, and is looking to become a permanent member.

In a recent interview with AFP, the Brazilian president said he was against international sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program, and voiced concerns the United States was formulating a pretext against its Islamic foe.

On Monday, he said in his weekly radio broadcast that there were "a series of countries that aren't talking with Iran."

He added: "You can't move forward by isolating Iran. If Iran is an important player in all this discord, it's important that someone sits down with Iran, talks with Iran and tries to establish a point of balance, so that we can return to a degree of normality in the Middle East."

Days before receiving Ahmadinejad, Lula made a point of welcoming visits by Israeli President Shimon Peres and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to display Brazil's inclusiveness.

On Monday, he announced he would travel to Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian Territories in March next year.

However on the thorny issue of Iran's nuclear program, Lula has ignored Western fears that an atomic arsenal is being developed, saying instead he fully backed Tehran pursuing civilian nuclear energy projects.

Lula and Ahmadinejad were to give a joint news conference later on Monday.

The Iranian president was then to hold a discussion with Brazilian university students.

He was accompanied by a sizeable delegation, including 150 Iranian businessmen instrumental in meeting Tehran's goal of lifting bilateral trade with Brazil from one billion dollars today to 15 billion dollars in the future.

Several protests over his visit have taken place, notably one on Sunday in Rio de Janeiro, where 1,000 members of Jewish, anti-racist and gay rights groups rallied against Ahmadinejad's tirades.

Sao Paulo's governor, Jose Serra, who is seen as the leading potential candidate in presidential elections in October next year that will select Lula's successor, called Ahmadinejad's visit "undesirable."

In an opinion piece published in the Folha de S. Paulo newspaper, Serra blasted Ahmadinejad's stance that Israel should be destroyed and his government's crackdown on student protesters.

"Democracy and human rights are indivisible and have to be defended in every part of the world," he wrote.

After his 24-hour Brazilian leg, Ahmadinejad was to depart for Bolivia for talks with his counterpart Evo Morales.

Continuing on to Venezuela, the Iranian president was to see his "friend" Hugo Chavez, who, like himself and Morales, is strongly critical of the United States.

Chavez, who also supports Tehran's nuclear program, has himself been a regular visitor to Iran since the presidency of Ahmadinejad's predecessor Mohammad Khatami, the reformist president.

On his way back to Iran, Ahmadinejad was to stop off in Senegal.