MIAMI, Jan 14 (Reuters) - The top U.S. military officer criticized Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Monday for saying Colombia's Marxist-led guerrillas were not terrorists.

Last week, after brokering the release of two hostages held by the rebels, Chavez said FARC and ELN groups should be treated as insurgent armies, rather than terrorist groups.

Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the U.S. military's Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the remarks by the leftist leader were not unexpected but still unwelcome.

"I'm honestly not surprised by that support," he told reporters at the end of a visit to U.S. Southern Command, the Miami-based headquarters for U.S. military operations in Latin America.

"I don't think it's helpful long-term for building the kind of stability that we need to see in this part of the world."

The United States strongly backs Colombian President Alvaro Uribe's campaign against the guerrilla groups, providing funding and military advisers to the country.

Mullen, a former head of the Navy who took on the top job in the U.S. military in October, is due to make his first visit to Colombia this week.

The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, and the National Liberation Army, or ELN, use kidnapping as a weapon in their decades-long war on the country. Along with right-wing paramilitaries, the FARC also finances itself through involvement in the Andean nation's multibillion-dollar narcotics trade.

Mullen also said he was worried about efforts by Iran, Washington's arch enemy, to build closer relations with Latin American countries.

"That engagement is very disconcerting," he said.

Mullen said he had seen no evidence that Iran was fomenting terrorism in Latin America, but its current engagement in the region "could lead to the possibility in the future."

The United States accuses Iran of backing terrorists in the Middle East, a charge Tehran denies. (Reporting by Andrew Gray)

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