CARACAS (Reuters) – Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez’s government accused the United States yesterday of fomenting violence to undermine the Iranian administration.

The socialist Chavez is a friend of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has been cracking down on opposition protests in which eight people have died during the bloodiest unrest since the aftermath of a disputed June vote.

“The government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela categorically rejects the attempts at destabilization promoted by the US government against the people and government of Iran,” Venezuela’s foreign ministry said in a statement.

“The Bolivarian government is surprised that a group of governments, led by the US empire, are echoing a campaign to divide and spread violence among Iranians, in contravention of elemental norms of peace, non-interference and respect for sovereignty,” it added.

In Iran, tens of thousands of Ahmadinejad supporters rallied in cities across the nation yesterday, swearing allegiance to the clerical establishment and accusing opposition leaders of causing unrest.

US and British flags were burned in Tehran.

Both fiery anti-US ideologues, Chavez and Ahmadinejad admire each other’s “revolutionary” credentials and aim to weaken “imperialism” by promoting new centers of global power.

Venezuela’s statement expressed “solidarity” with Iran and praise for “its tireless struggle for the consolidation of the Islamic Revolution.”

Relations between Venezuela and Iran, both OPEC member states, have raised eyebrows this year in Western capitals due to Chavez’s support for Iran’s nuclear program and Tehran’s help to Venezuela in mapping its uranium deposits.

The pair has met about a dozen times, most recently in Caracas last month.