"We are interested too, we must start working on that area... the nuclear area. We could, along with Brazil, with Argentina and others, start investigations into the nuclear sector and ask for help from countries like Iran," Chavez said on his regular Sunday TV program.

"It is for development, for life, for peace and energy," the president said during the program broadcast at an event in Caracas for Iranian companies.

Venezuela, the world's No. 5 oil exporter, is a key energy supplier to the United States, but its relations with Washington have soured since Chavez came to office six years ago promising to fight poverty with a raft of social reforms.

Chavez has backed Iran, branded by Washington part of an "axis of evil," in Tehran's dispute with the United States and Europe over its nuclear program. U.S. officials accuse Iran of secretly working to produce nuclear arms, but Tehran says its atomic program is only for civilian energy uses.

"I am sure the Iranian government is not making any atomic bomb," Chavez said, repeating support he gave during a visit by Iranian President Mohammad Khatami to Venezuela in March.

Venezuela is rich in heavy crude oil and natural gas. About 75 percent of its electric power is generated by state-run hydroelectric plants.

A self-proclaimed socialist revolutionary, Chavez says he is offering an alternative to U.S. "imperialism" and accuses Washington of trying to oust or kill him. Supporters applaud his education and health programs to help the poor.

He has strengthened political, energy and economic ties with China, India and Russia as an alternative to Venezuela's traditional alliance with the United States.

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