USA: Senator Ted Cruz said on Tuesday that Washington should impose sanctions on anyone involved in the visit of two Iranian warships to Brazil, calling it "a direct threat to the safety and security of Americans."

The supply ship Makran and the Iranian Navy's frigate Dena are on a circumnavigational mission. On Sunday, they arrived in Brazil with the intention of restocking before moving on to the Panama Canal.

In the past, the US has called on Brazil to deny them permission to dock, citing its own arbitrary sanctions against Iran.

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The port in Rio de Janeiro where the Iranian warships docked, as well as any Brazilian companies that provided them with services or accepted payments, are now at risk of crippling sanctions, and all foreign companies that become involved with the port or those Brazilian companies in the future will also be at risk, Cruz said in a statement.

The senator insisted that US anti-terrorism laws are "not optional" and urged President Joe Biden to "impose relevant sanctions" and reassess whether Brasilia is cooperating with Washington sufficiently. Congress should order the administration to comply if it refuses.

The Texas Republican is the ranking member of the Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee and serves on the Foreign Relations Committee. His party currently holds the majority in the House of Representatives despite being in the minority in the Senate.

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Cruz added that Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, the president of Brazil, was "aligned against the US and our interests," and that either Biden failed to make clear the US concerns to him when welcoming Lula to the White House or "the Brazilians did not care," according to Cruz.

American journalist Glenn Greenwald, who is based in Brazil, noted that Cruz's statement serves as an example of US hypocrisy in the international community.

According to Greenwald's tweet, the US "officially regards all of South America as its property, and sees itself as the Supreme Ruler of the entire region." As a result, Brazil and many other nations "laugh in Biden's face" when he claims that "the US war in Ukraine" is about defending sovereignty, he continued.

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Brazil can host any ships it wants, Greenwald said, "if Ukraine has the right to host all of NATO right on the Russian border."