Senior parliamentary officials in Tehran threatened on Sunday to cancel the upcoming visit to Iran of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan due his recent anti-Iran remarks, the semi-official Fars news agency reported.
Erdogan angered Iran when he said last week that Iran is trying to “dominate the Middle East” and that its efforts have begun annoying Ankara. The comments came after Saudi Arabia and a coalition of regional allies launched a military operation in Yemen against the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels threatening the government there.
"Mr. Erdogan's visit to Tehran should be canceled in view of his recent comments against Iran …," Iranian parliamentarian Esmayeel Kosari told Fars on Sunday.
Asked whether the Iranian foreign ministry will cancel Erdogan's visit, the legislator responded, "If the ministry does not take this action, we will make the foreign ministry bound to do it and the parliament will surely study this issue next week after coming back from Nowrouz holidays."
On Friday, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif also urged Turkey to act responsibly in a bid to help restore calm and peace to the Middle East.
"We attach great importance to our strategic relations with Turkey in different fields and under the present conditions all countries should try to establish stability and prevent the spread of insecurity in the region,” the Iranian foreign minister said, according to Fars.
"Those who have caused irreparable damage with their strategic mistakes and ambitious policies should utilize the existing capacities to establish calm and convergence in the region through adopting responsible policies," Zarif added.
Iran has denounced Saudi Arabia’s foray into Yemen and threatened that it would end up costing it dearly.
It is believed that Iran is planning to use the Houthi rebels to take over Yemen and seize the key strategic port of Aden, which controls the entrance to the Red Sea and ultimately to the Israeli resort city of Eilat.