Iranian officials have condemned Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for his comments against Iran’s regional reach, and an Iranian member of parliament has asked the Foreign Ministry to postpone Erdogan’s scheduled trip to Tehran in April.

Conservative Iranian member of parliemant Ahmad Tavakoli said, “In consideration of Mr. Erdogan’s baseless comments, our Foreign Ministry must postpone his trip to Iran,” adding, “When an individual who holds the post of president of a country lacks so much respect for a neighboring country that at the beginning of his trip talks about Iran’s foreign policy, it is not necessary to show eagerness for the creation of relations.”

Tavakoli was responding to comments made by Erdogan at a March 26 press conference, when he said that “Iran is trying to dominate the region,” and that it “cannot be tolerated.” Erdogan called on Iran to withdraw forces from Yemen, Iraq and Syria. Previously, in an interview with France 24, Erdogan also expressed support for Saudi Arabia’s bombing of Yemen and said that Turkey may offer “logistical support.”

Read more here

 

This article was written by Arash Karami for Al-Monitor on March 27, 2015. Arash Karami is the editor of Al-Monitor's Iran Pulse and covers the Iranian media for Iran Pulse. On Twitter: @thekarami