Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was traveling to Caracas on Thursday for the funeral of Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez, state television reported.

Ahmadinejad "will shortly leave Tehran for Venezuela to attend the funeral" of Chavez who died on Tuesday, the broadcaster announced in the early afternoon.

The United States is hoping to forge better ties with Venezuela once the political upheaval caused by president Hugo Chavez's death is over, but admitted Wednesday it may take some time.

"All of us know that electoral campaigns may not always be the best time to break new ground on policy," a senior State Department official, who asked not to be named, told reporters on a conference call.

The flag-draped coffin of Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez was borne through throngs of weeping supporters on Wednesday as a nation bade farewell to the firebrand leftist who led them for 14 years.

His mother Elena wept over his wooden casket as a band played the national anthem outside his military hospital. Presidential guards with red berets then placed his remains on top of a black hearse, surrounded by flowers.

President Bashar Assad on Wednesday mourned the death of Venezuela's leader Hugo Chavez as a "great loss" for himself and the Syrian people.

"The demise of this unique leader is as much a great loss for me personally and the Syrian people as it is for the people of Venezuela," Assad said in a statement broadcast on state television.

Syrian state media paid homage to late Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez on Wednesday, saying he had taken an "honorable" position on the two-year-old uprising against the Damascus regime.

Chavez "stood on the side of the Arabs' legitimate rights," said a commentary carried by state news agency SANA. "He took an honorable stance regarding the conspiracy against Syria."

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad paid tribute to late Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez on Wednesday saying he had fallen "martyr" to a "suspect illness.”

Ahmadinejad hailed his close ally for "serving the people of Venezuela and defending human and revolutionary values."

U.S. filmmaker and long-time Hugo Chavez supporter Oliver Stone hailed the late Venezuelan leader as a "great hero" on Tuesday, saying he will "live forever in history."

Actor and activist Sean Penn, another Hollywood friend to Chavez, also paid tribute saying the world's poor had lost a "champion" and America had also lost "a friend it never knew it had."

Condolences poured in Wednesday from world leaders who had found common cause with Venezuela's Hugo Chavez in his 14-year campaign to galvanize the Latin American left and defy U.S. "imperialism."

Ideological allies in Latin America lined up to salute the late firebrand as Russia, China and Iran paid tribute to a key regional partner, while the United States expressed hope for improved ties with oil-rich Venezuela.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez lost his battle with cancer Tuesday, silencing the leading voice of the Latin American left and plunging his divided oil-rich nation into an uncertain future.

"We have received the toughest and tragic information that... comandante President Hugo Chavez died today at 4:25 pm," a tearful Vice President Nicolas Maduro announced on television, directly from a Caracas military hospital.

Venezuela said Tuesday it was expelling a second U.S. embassy official for unauthorized contacts with Venezuelan military officials and conspiracy amid the illness of ailing President Hugo Chavez.

Foreign Minister Elias Jaua said the two Air Force officials were considered "persona non grata" and being kicked out of Venezuela.