Lawmaker Mohammad Mehdi Pourfatemi said that senior clerics should condemn Ahmadinejad's behavior and not allow him to do whatever "anti-Islamic" moves he likes. Another lawmaker, Mohammad Dehghan, did not name the Iranian president but said that the behavior of "a senior executive government official" had not been dignified. Ahmadinejad has not publicly reacted to the criticism over the picture or for his comments saying that Chavez will be resurrected alongside Jesus and the Hidden Imam. However, parliamentary deputy Hojatoleslam Mohammad Reza Mirtajedini, who traveled to Caracas with Ahmadinejad, denies that the president embraced Chavez's mother.
