Brazil needs to strengthen its defense system to counter possible attacks from foreign nations, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said Monday in remarks that appeared to allude to the risk of a U.S. incursion — though he did not name the country directly.

"In this country, nobody has an atomic bomb, our drones are for agriculture, not for war. If we don't prepare ourselves on the issue of defense, one day they will invade us," he declared during a speech at the Palácio do Planalto in Brasília, alongside South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, who is conducting a state visit to Brazil.

"Brazil has the need, just as South Africa does, to improve its defense system," the president reaffirmed.

"We don't need to be buying from the 'arms dealers.' We can produce our own weapons. Nobody is going to help us, except ourselves," the head of state emphasized.

Lula recently met with the commanders of the Armed Forces and Defense Minister José Múcio Monteiro to analyze the regional and global geopolitical landscape, which has been shaped by the recent U.S. incursion into Venezuela and the outbreak of war in Iran.

The president noted that the defense ministers of Brazil and South Africa will hold a meeting in Brasília on the sidelines of Ramaphosa's state visit, where they will discuss potential agreements in the defense sector.

His statements came one day after Brazilian Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira held a phone conversation Sunday with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, according to reports published today by the news portals UOL and G1. Diplomatic sources indicated that Vieira and Rubio discussed the potential meeting between Lula and President Donald Trump, scheduled for a date yet to be determined.

Additionally, the Brazilian foreign minister reportedly expressed his disagreement with the possibility that Washington might designate the criminal organizations PCC and Comando Vermelho as narco-terrorist organizations.