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Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad greets Elena Frías during the state funeral of her son, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, in Caracas, Venezuela, on March 8.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad may have endeared himself to much of Latin America with his performance at the funeral of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, but minders of religious righteousness in his home country were unamused.

His sin — unfortunately for him captured in a photograph — transpired when he came cheek to cheek with a grieving Elena Frias, the mother of the late president, while clasping her hands. In strict Islamic societies, people are not supposed to touch others of the opposite gender unless they are related or married.

The image sparked a storm of controversy in the Iranian press, according to the English-language Iran Pulse, and went viral on Twitter and Facebook as users joked about it or speculated about how the conservative Islamic clerics back in Tehran would respond.

Their answer was swift and certain.

"In relation to what is allowed (halal) and what is forbidden (haram) we know that no unrelated women can be touched unless she is drowning at sea or needs (medical) treatment," said Hojat al-Islam Hossein Ibrahimi, member of the Society of Militant Clergy of Tehran, according to the Iran Pulse report.

Ahmadinejad was already under scrutiny by the conservative clerics who call the shots in Iran, and apparently they did not like the eulogy he gave for Chavez at the memorial ceremony.

They said it was another sign that a "deviant current" was driving the president a greater distance from the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

During the eulogy, Ahmadinejad said that Chavez "will come again along with Jesus Christ and Al-Imam al-Mahdi to redeem mankind,” putting the populist Venezuelan president and ex-paratrooper in the ranks of holy figures.

Mohammed Dehghan, a member of the Iranian parliament, called for religious scholars to confront Ahmadinejad’s "un-Islamic" acts, Al-Arabiya reported.

Some Shiite religious figures admonished the Iranian president to become better educated about his religion. Others urged him not to make religious references for the rest of his campaign for re-election, while his supporters said the whole uproar was a part of a smear campaign.

A second controversial photograph surfaced that appeared to be of Ahmadinejad attending the funeral in Caracas last week, but it turned out to be a fake that amateurishly Photoshopped the Iranian president in a cheek-to-cheek moment with the former director-general of the U.N. nuclear watchdog, Egyptian Mohamed ElBaradei.

Abedin Taherkenareh / EPA file

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (L) and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez during a ceremony marking the start of a two-day visit in Tehran, in a file photo dated April 2, 2009.

TEHRAN, Iran — The day after the death of Venezuela's Hugo Chavez, two men chatted in a barbershop halfway around the world.

"Did you hear (President Mahmoud) Ahmadinejad's friend died?" one asked as he sat in the basement of what was once Tehran's Hilton Hotel on Wednesday.

"Who?" exclaimed the second.

"Hugo Chavez."

"Ah, yes, I heard he died last week, they are just telling people now."

It is not uncommon to hear conspiracy theories in Iran, so it wasn’t exactly surprising that one would come up so early in this particular conversation. Also unsurprising is the conversation itself — here people from all walks of life and all ages constantly discuss politics, their own and others'.

The two men in the barbershop — which offers hot face towels, neck and shoulder massages and shaves went on to talk about Chavez's merits and flaws as if they were host and guest on a political chat show.

They came to the conclusion that Chavez was a bon viveur and that his people ultimately liked him. They made some comparisons between Iran and Venezuela, two oil-rich states that have been alienated by the West.

Too soon, the chat show came to an end.

As the discussion revealed, Chavez was a close friend of Iran — they shared a common antagonism toward the United States. Indeed, Chavez could not have found a better ally than Ahmadinejad, whose government declared a day of mourning after the death was announced.

Ahmadinejad also seemed to put Chavez in the ranks of holy figures, saying he would "return on resurrection day."

"I have no doubt Chavez will return to Earth together with Jesus and the perfect" Imam Mahdi, the most revered figure of Shiite's Muslims, and help "establish peace, justice and kindness" in the world, Ahmadinejad added.

Over the years, Ahmadinejad and Chavez showed what appeared to be genuine warmth for each other. They lavished praise on one another and chastised America. They called "Imperial America" a global threat and demanded a new world order.

Chavez supported Iran’s nuclear program, which Iran says is for civilian purposes, despite international concern. They also both courted controversy and enjoyed the support of their respective working classes.

Iran has sent it deepest condolences to Venezuela and will probably have a high ranking member of the government if not President Ahmadinejad attend the state funeral.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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LONDON -- The European Union on Monday increased economic and diplomatic pressure on Iran by ratcheting up sanctions put in place against the country’s nuclear program.

“Despite six U.N. Security Council Resolutions calling for Iran to cease enrichment-related activities, Iran continues to choose the wrong path. It is enriching uranium on a scale that has no plausible civilian justification,” British Foreign Secretary William Hague said at a meeting of foreign ministers from the 27 EU countries in Luxembourg.

At the same meeting, EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton stressed the path to a negotiated diplomatic solution remains open.

“We have always said sanctions are not an end in themselves, but are there to apply pressure on the Iranian authorities to meet their international obligations,” Ashton said.

Tough measures
In addition to current bans on oil and gasoline imports from Iran, Monday’s package of measures addressed what the EU called its “serious and deepening concerns over Iran’s nuclear program,” by targeting Tehran’s funding of such schemes.

All transactions between European and Iranian banks will now be prohibited, unless they have been explicitly authorized by national authorities.

The import of natural gas from Iran into the EU will be banned, along with associated activities, such as transport and insurance.

EU member states also decided to stop supporting trade with Iran by ending short-term export credits, guarantees or insurance.

These new restrictions come amid growing concern among world powers of Iran’s lack of engagement in its protracted negotiations with the United States, China, Russia, Britain, France and Germany in their on-and-off talks, which have dragged on for years with little sign of progress.

Iran says ready 'to offer an exchange' on nuke issue

World powers accuse Iran of covertly using its uranium enrichment program to produce nuclear weapons. Tehran insists the research and development is to generate electricity and produce medical isotopes.

The ongoing negotiations have limped from meeting to meeting, with the world powers’ frustrations punctuated by occasional concessions by Iran and assertions of its willingness to engage with the international partners. Recently, Iran suggested it would halt its enrichment program in exchange for fuel for a research reactor.

Despite the protracted dialogue, diplomats hope that a negotiated settlement can be reached, with international sanctions providing an incentive for Tehran to engage more meaningfully.

Western intel: 'Small signs of wavering' on Iran nuke policy

Ashton told reporters in Luxembourg that she met recently with her Iranian counterpart, Saeed jalili, and “had left him in no illusion about our desire to make progress.”

Staggering economy
Although the EU says sanctions are not aimed at the Iranian people, the existing sanctions, backed by numerous U.N. resolutions dating back to 2006, began to bite this summer.

Hyperinflation in Iran is pushing up prices daily and the dramatic slide in the value of the rial against the U.S. dollar led to unrest in Tehran earlier this month, when angry currency traders clashed with security forces.

These new sanctions appear likely to add to Iran’s economic turmoil, according to analysts.

Complete World coverage on NBCNews.com

Despite the tightening sanctions, U.S. exports to Iran rose by nearly one-third in the first eight months of 2012, according to data released by the U.S. Census Bureau.

The jump, to $199.5 million, was due chiefly to an increase in grain sales and hides a sharp drop in the value of exports of humanitarian goods, such as medicinal and pharmaceutical products, which fell to $14.9 million from $26.7 million in the same period in 2011.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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LONDON -- Western intelligence has begun to detect tension within the Iranian regime over the country’s nuclear program, officials told NBC News on Friday.

Even so, the European Union on Friday provisionally approved substantial new economic sanctions against Tehran.

The new sanctions will have to be formally approved on Monday at an EU foreign ministers' meeting in Luxembourg before coming into effect.

The sanctions, aimed at trying to change policy in Tehran, will target areas such as shipping, banking and trade in parts that could be used to build a nuclear weapon. Measures already in place include an oil embargo that is causing serious economic woes and leading to protests on the streets.

Tehran denies its nuclear work has any military intentions and says it wants nuclear power for electricity supplies and medical needs.

Despite stalled talks between Iran and a six-country alliance of Western powers, including the United States, a Western diplomatic source said contact with Iranian officials has been sustained consistently, including during the months since the summer.

Western official: 'Tension within the Iranian regime'
The official told NBC News there are some signs of “tension within the Iranian regime” over the issue.

"We’ve picked up some small signs of wavering on the nuclear policy," the official, who did not want to be named, said. "But I don’t want to exaggerate it."

He added that so far there is “no sign Iran is prepared to move” making renewed sanctions necessary.

Any change in policy from either side is only likely to emerge after the U.S. presidential election: If Iran is prepared to negotiate, it will want to know whether it is talking to an Obama administration or a Romney administration.

The United States has so far led the way on sanctions against Iran.

Even so, in Thursday’s vice presidential debate, Republican candidate Mitt Romney’s running mate, Paul Ryan, accused the Obama administration of not doing enough. Ryan warned that Iran is “moving faster toward a nuclear weapon.”

Complete Middle East & North African coverage on NBCNews.com

He warned that if Iran is able to attain nuclear weapons it could “trigger a nuclear arms race in the Middle East.”

In this assertion, Ryan appeared closer to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who dramatically told the United Nations in September that Israel was drawing a “red line” for Iran’s nuclear program and claimed the country could be on the brink of a nuclear weapon in less than a year.

With Iran issue simmering, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu calls early elections

EU steps up pressure
On Friday, the Western official said the chief purpose of the sanctions is to “slow down Iran’s nuclear program” and that the aim is not to target the Iranian people.

The trade and finance measures mark a major step-up of European pressure on Tehran, amid growing concerns over its nuclear program, foundering diplomacy and threats of attack on Iranian installations by Israel.

The EU is also targeting Iran's shipping industry, in an effort to curb Tehran's ability to sell oil to obtain funds and hard currency. It banned imports of Iranian oil earlier this year.

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New measures will ban European companies from providing shipbuilding technology and oil storage capabilities, as well as flagging and classification services to Iranian tankers.

Slideshow: Everyday life in Iran

At schools, in shops, and on the streets of big cities and small towns, daily life plays out in Iran.

Launch slideshow

But some worry that whatever the intent, the effect is a dramatic cut in living standards for ordinary Iranians that may inflame anger against the West and fuel Iranian defiance.

In a speech broadcast on state television on Wednesday, Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei labeled the sanctions "barbaric."

Reuters contributed to this report.

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Israel said it struck targets in the Gaza Strip on Monday after Palestinian militants fired rockets at southern Israel in what they said was a response to an Israel airstrike that wounded two militants and eight bystanders.

Meanwhile, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, citing The Associated Press, said the Israeli air force flew mock raids over southern Lebanon after a mysterious unmanned aircraft was shot down over Israel over the weekend.

An Iranian military official was quoted as saying Monday that the drone's incursion exposed the weakness of Israeli air defenses, but did not confirm or deny Israeli charges that Tehran and southern Lebanon-based Shiite militia group Hezbollah were behind it.

Jamaluddin Aberoumand, deputy coordinator for Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, said the incident indicated that Israel's Iron Dome anti-missile defense system "does not work and lacks the necessary capacity," Fars news agency reported.

The Iron Dome system, jointly funded with the United States, is designed to shoot down short-range guerrilla rockets, not slow-flying aircraft. It intercepted more than 80 percent of the targets it engaged in March when nearly 300 rockets and mortars were fired at southern Israel, the Pentagon said at the time.

The drone was first spotted above the Mediterranean near the Gaza Strip to the west of Israel, said military spokeswoman Avital Leibovich. An Israeli warplane shot it down above a forest near the occupied West Bank.

Israeli parliament member Miri Regev, a former chief spokesman of the military, wrote on Twitter it was an "Iranian drone launched by Hezbollah."

Israeli defense officials have not confirmed the charge.

On at least one occasion, Iranian-backed Hezbollah has sent a drone into Israeli airspace. Also, in 2010, an Israeli warplane shot down an apparently unmanned balloon in the Negev near the country's Dimona nuclear reactor.

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Sunday's flyover by Israeli jets appeared intended to demonstrate to Hezbollah that Israel retained air superiority, according to the AP.

On Monday, the Israeli army said it had targeted "Hamas terror activity sites and terrorist squads responsible for the rocket fire"in Gaza, but gave no details.

Gaza hospital officials said one Islamic Jihad militant thought to have been involved in the rocket attack had been wounded by Israeli tank fire east of the town of Rafah.

Residents of the town of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip said an Israeli tank fired at the suspected launch area, slightly wounding four children and damaging a mosque minaret and a water tower.

The Israeli army says 470 rockets have been fired from Gaza this year, 10 in October alone.

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The armed wing of Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist faction that controls the Gaza Strip, said it had carried out the latest rocket attack with the militant Islamic Jihad group.

It was the first time since June that Hamas had acknowledged launching rockets at Israel.

An Israeli military spokeswoman said some rockets had landed harmlessly near the border with the Gaza Strip.

An Israeli air strike on Sunday was aimed at two Palestinian militants, one of whom was critically wounded, as was one of the bystanders.

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at a military base in the southern part of the country, in a recently released, undated photo from the country's official news service.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is planning to travel to Tehran next week, in his first overseas visit since taking over after his father's death in December, South Korea’s Yonhap and Arirang news services reported on Wednesday.

Iran’s spokesman for the Non-Aligned Movement Summit confirmed that Kim would attend a meeting of the 120-member Non-Aligned Movement scheduled for Aug. 26-31, according to Seoul-based Arirang.

North Korea watchers have keenly tracked the movements of Kim Jong Un, about whom virtually nothing was known when he was installed in the top posts of the authoritarian regime in Pyongyang.

In recent months, by adopting a different style than his late father Kim Jong Il, he has sparked a flurry of speculation that he might reform the country's rigid economic and social structure.

In July, Kim started appearing in public with an attractive woman who was later announced  to be his wife Ri Sol Ju. Kim's recent appearances at an amusement park and with school children have made the young leader — thought to be 28 or 29 years old — seem more approachable than his father.  

Last week, Kim's uncle Jang Song Taek met with top leaders in Beijing, fueling predictions that Pyongyang would put in place economic reforms like those launched in China three decades earlier.

But by making his first foreign visit to Iran — a country nearly as estranged from the rest of the world as his own — Kim gives no sign of a foreign policy thaw.

The Non-Aligned Movement was set up at the height of the Cold War by nations that did not want to side with NATO or the Warsaw Pact Nations. Hosting the summit, held about every three years, rotates among the 120 member nations, including .

About 40 world leaders have confirmed they will attend the summit in Iran, according to the English-language Tehran Times, while another 60 were expected to send lower level officials. 

The Obama Administration has said Iran doesn’t deserve to host the summit given its failure to comply with international demands to open up about its nuclear program and has urged U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon not to attend. He has asked nations that are attending to pressure Tehran to come clean, the Associated Press reported Monday.  

North Korea also has a nuclear program, the details of which are the topic of much analysis and speculation in the West.  

U.S. efforts to engage Pyongyang ended abruptly when Kim Jong Un announced a planned missile launch shortly after agreeing to a deal freezing nuclear development in exchange for food from the United States. The launch failed, but discussions remain on hold. Analysis of recent satellite imagery by the Institute for Science and International Security suggest that the country’s construction of nuclear facilities is accelerating.

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The chief of the U.N. nuclear agency said Tuesday that he had reached a deal with Iran on probing suspected work on nuclear weapons and the agreement would "be signed quite soon." 

Yukiya Amano, of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said some details still needed to be worked out. But he told reporters that Iranian officials say that those will not stand in the way of signing the deal. 

"(A) decision was made to conclude and sign the agreement ... I can say it will be signed quite soon," he said.

Amano spoke Tuesday on returning from Tehran, after talks on resuming a long-stalled probe into suspicions that Iran secretly worked on developing nuclear weapons. 

Israeli military chief: I doubt Iran's 'rational' leadership will make nuclear bomb

The investigation has been stalled for more than four years, with Iran saying it has not carried out such experiments.

Clash with Iran could see use of huge, new U.S. bomb

Iran denies that it is interested in developing nuclear weapons, saying it wants nuclear power only to generate energy and for medical use.

Robert Wood, the acting U.S. envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency, said Tuesday that Iran should act swiftly to allow the IAEA to carry out its work.

"While we appreciate the efforts (by the IAEA) to conclude a substantive agreement, we remain concerned by the urgent obligation for Iran to take concrete steps to cooperate fully (with the agency)," Wood said.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

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JERUSALEM - A former Israeli spymaster has branded the country's leaders unfit to tackle the Iranian nuclear program because of what he called the "messianic feelings" behind their threats to launch a pre-emptive war on Iran.

Other veterans have come out against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak recently, but the criticism from former domestic intelligence chief Yuval Diskin was especially strong.

"I have no faith in the prime minister, nor in the defense minister," Diskin, who stepped down as head of the Shin Bet a year ago, said in a speech partly broadcast by Israel Radio on Saturday.

"I really don't have faith in a leadership that makes decisions out of messianic feelings."

The catastrophic terms with which Netanyahu and Barak describe the prospect of a nuclear-armed Iran have stirred concern in Israel and abroad of a possible strike against a uranium enrichment program Iran says has peaceful ends.

World powers have been trying to curb Tehran through sanctions and negotiations that are due to resume next month.

Israel teams with terror group to kill Iran's nuclear scientists, U.S. officials tell NBC News

Although Israel has threatened a pre-emptive strike if diplomacy fails, some experts believe that could be a bluff to keep up pressure on Iran, making it harder to interpret the swirl of comments from the security establishment.

Diskin's remarks came days after Israel's military chief, Lieutenant-General Benny Gantz, said Iran was "very rational" and unlikely to build a bomb in the face of world opposition, apparently undermining the case for a strike.

By using the language of religious fervor that Israelis usually associate with Islamist foes, Diskin appeared even more damning of Netanyahu and Barak, who have often crafted strategy alone and whose relationship dates back to service in an elite commando unit four decades ago.

The former head of Israel's Mossad foreign intelligence service, Meir Dagan, has ridiculed the idea of a strike on Iran.

Diskin, who spoke on Friday, said he was not necessarily opposed to Israel attacking Iran's nuclear sites pre-emptively, though he cited experts who argue that such an action might backfire by accelerating Tehran's quest for a bomb.

Yet going to war was not a job for Netanyahu, a second-term premier, nor Barak, Israel's most decorated soldier, Diskin said.

"I have seen them up close," he said. "They are not people who I personally, at least, trust to be able to lead Israel into an event on such a scale, and to extricate it."

The Prime Minister's Office and Defence Ministry had no immediate response to Diskin's remarks. A Netanyahu deputy, Silvan Shalom, rebuked the former spymaster and sought to assure Israelis that democratic process guided the government strategy.

"Not everyone thinks the same thing. This is not a decision that would be made by two people," he told Israel Radio.

"Ultimately, with all due respect to everyone, the one who is more important on this matter is the military chief of staff," Shalom said, referring to the general whose comments had appeared at odds with the official line.

Iran denies seeking nuclear weapons, but Western nations as well as Israel fear it plans to build a bomb. 

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TEHRAN, Iran -- Tehran will retaliate against any attack by Israeli or American forces "on the same level," Iran's top leader said.

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, speaking on state TV to mark the Iranian new year on Tuesday, repeated his claims that the country does not seek atomic weapons, but said all of Iran's conventional firepower was ready to respond to any attack.

"We do not have atomic weapons and we will not build one. But against an attack by enemies — to defend ourselves either against the U.S. or Zionist regime — we will attack them on the same level that they attack us," he said, using the term Iranian authorities often use for Israel.

Despite the hard-edged tone for most of the speech, there were hints of overtures toward America before a possible resumption of nuclear talks between Iran and world powers. He urged the U.S. to have a "respectful attitude" toward Iran — suggesting it could bring dividends.

Earlier this month, Khamenei gave a rare nod of approval to Washington after President Barack Obama said he favored diplomacy to resolve the nuclear dispute.

In a video message for the Iranian new year, known as Nowruz, Obama tried to reach out to the Iranian people, saying there was "no reason for the United States and Iran to be divided from one another." But he denounced Iranian authorities for setting up an "electronic curtain" that keeps Iranians from making their voices heard with American and the West.

Obama slams Iran's 'electric curtain' amid 'Israel loves Iran' campaign

"Increasingly, the Iranian people are denied the basic freedom to access the information that they want," Obama said after the U.S. Treasury Department opened the way for American companies to export Internet communications software and other materials to Iran.

"Instead, the Iranian government jams satellite signals to shut down television and radio broadcasts. It censors the Internet to control what the Iranian people can see and say. The regime monitors computers and cell phones for the sole purpose of protecting its own power," Obama added.

Slideshow: Everyday life in Iran

At schools, in shops, and on the streets of big cities and small towns, daily life plays out in Iran.

Launch slideshow

The U.S. president has used Nowruz for outreach to ordinary Iranians in the past, but it's unclear how many people are reached because of widespread Internet firewalls and efforts to block broadcasts such as Farsi language programs of the BBC and Voice of America. Still, satellite dishes are common — although illegal — and outside channels reach many Iranian homes.

The two nations are at odds because the West and its allies fear Iran could use its uranium enrichment program to eventually develop material for nuclear warheads. Iran says it only seeks reactors for energy and medical research.

NYT: US 'war game' sees perils of Israeli strike against Iran

Obama has urged for more time to allow sanctions to cut deeper into Iran's economy, which has been hit by the latest pressures targeting oil exports and the ability to conduct international banking. Israeli officials have said there is no decision yet on whether to launch a military strike on Iran's nuclear facilities, but analysts in both countries have become increasingly nervous about the risks of touching off a region-wide war.

In response to tougher sanctions, Iran had threatened to try to close the strategic Strait of Hormuz at the mouth of the Gulf — the route for about a fifth of the world's oil. However, Iran's military has made no actual moves to blockade the shipping lanes, and Kuwait's ruler was quoted Tuesday as saying Iran has assured its Gulf neighbors that it will not attempt to disrupt tanker traffic.

US companies lose as sanctions strangle Iraq

"We have received assurances from Iran that it will not take this step," Sheik Sabah Al Ahmed Al Sabah was quoted by the official Kuwait News Agency as saying. The agency said he made the statement to the Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun during a four-day state visit to Japan.

Iran has faced decades of sanctions. The latest sanctions placed in recent months are far tougher however than previous ones and target Iran's banking sector and critical oil exports that provide around $75 billion, some 80 percent of the country's foreign revenue.

US: No Iran oil-import sanctions for Japan, 10 EU countries

The value of the rial has plummeted over the past year in part because of expanding sanctions.

With the rial sinking, inflation in Iran has soared, a trend that has been abetted by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's cost-cutting economic reforms that dropped generous food and fuel subsidies Iranians have enjoyed for decades.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.