Iran to invest $9 billion in Chavez

The Iranian government is set to invest $9 billion in the Chavez regime, paying for 125 industrial and development projects across Venezuela.

"Western diplomats in the region are clearly uneasy about Iran establishing a commercial beachhead in Venezuela, fearing the Islamic Republic's designs in the region may not be strictly business. Some have said that Iran's increasing links with Venezuela already have helped make the South American country a center of intrigue," the Los Angeles Times reports.

Venezuelan officials say they have "a lot to learn from Iran's formation of its many socialist cooperatives, a central part of the new economic model being followed by President Hugo Chavez."