Tehran:
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez flew in to Tehran on Wednesday for talks with Iranian officials after an Arab-Latin American summit in Doha, state media reported.
The visit is aimed at following up on joint projects with Iran and launching an Iranian-Venezuelan bank as well as a bilateral investment fund, the reports said, adding that Chavez would travel on to Japan.
The leftist leader last met in Tehran with President Mahmud Ahmadinejad in November 2007.
Iran and Venezuela, whose outspoken president has turned into a hero figure for many in the Middle East, have forged increasingly strong ties based on their opposition to the United States.
Chavez is a vocal cheerleader in Latin America for Iran and its nuclear programme, which the West suspects to be a cover for weapons development although Tehran insists it is purely peaceful.
Venezuela expelled the ambassador of Iran's arch-foe Israel from Caracas in January to protest the Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip that left more than 1,300 Palestinians dead.
The visit is aimed at following up on joint projects with Iran and launching an Iranian-Venezuelan bank as well as a bilateral investment fund, the reports said, adding that Chavez would travel on to Japan.
The leftist leader last met in Tehran with President Mahmud Ahmadinejad in November 2007.
Iran and Venezuela, whose outspoken president has turned into a hero figure for many in the Middle East, have forged increasingly strong ties based on their opposition to the United States.
Chavez is a vocal cheerleader in Latin America for Iran and its nuclear programme, which the West suspects to be a cover for weapons development although Tehran insists it is purely peaceful.
Venezuela expelled the ambassador of Iran's arch-foe Israel from Caracas in January to protest the Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip that left more than 1,300 Palestinians dead.
