Iran slams Arab League support of Syria rebels

Iran's envoy to Syria on Sunday blasted the Arab League's decision to grant Syria's seat at the Arab Summit to the opposition, saying that it would only complicate the crisis, Iran's semi-official news agency Fars reported.

With Syrian membership to the Arab League suspended in November 2011, the seat at Tuesday's summit was filled by Moaz Alkhatib, the leading figure among Syria's opposition coalition that is battling to overthrow Syrian President Bashar Assad

"Arab states make historical mistakes in dealing with the Syrian crisis so that the Arab nations and the Syrian people will always remember them," Fars quoted Iran's Charge d'Affaires in Damascus Abbas Golrou as saying.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad under fire for hugging Hugo Chavez's mother

Tehran, Iran: Senior Iranian clerics have scolded President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for consoling Hugo Chavez's mother with a hug - a physical contact considered a sin under Iran's strict Islamic codes.The rebuke follows a widely published photo showing Ahmadinejad embracing Chavez's mother at the funeral of the late Venezuelan president in what is seen as taboo-breaking behavior in Iran.