Via Al Arabiya:

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is under the spotlight once again for another controversial move.

But this move is much “softer” than nuclear war games or the occasional lashing out at Israel or America.

This time, it’s a hug.

Ahmadinejad came under heavy criticism after a picture on Friday showed him embracing a woman at the funeral of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, according to the website of the Iranian parliament reported.

While the identity of the woman who received Ahmadinejad’s apparent act of sympathy was at first unclear, the woman appeared to be Chavez’s mother Elena Frias, according to AFP news agency.

Most of those who criticized the embrace are Iranian conservatives who staunchly supported the president during the Iranian presidential elections held in June 2008. […]

He also called on religious scholars to seriously confront Ahmadinejad’s “un-Islamic” acts.

Former MP Hojatoleslam Mohammed Taghi Rahbar, who supported Ahmadinjed during the previous presidential elections, said the president lost control over the situation during the funeral of Chavez.