Erdogan: Turkey may provide logistics support to Decisive Storm

Turkey is ready to offer logistical support to the Saudi-led “Operation Decisive Storm” in Yemen, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday.

"We support Saudi Arabia's intervention," Erdogan said. "Turkey may consider providing logistical support based on the evolution of the situation," Erdogan told France 24 in an interview.

"Iran and the terrorist groups must withdraw," Erdogan added.

Erdogan later accused Iran of trying to dominate the Middle East and said its efforts have begun annoying Ankara, as well as Saudi Arabia and Gulf Arab countries.

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“Iran is trying to dominate the region,” said Erdogan, who is due to visit Tehran in early April. "Could this be allowed? This has begun annoying us, Saudi Arabia and the Gulf countries. This is really not tolerable and Iran has to see this," he told a press conference.

Warplanes from Saudi Arabia and Arab allies struck at Houthi forces in Yemen, who have taken over much of the country in their campaign to oust President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.

Erdogan's plans to visit Iran had not changed, his spokesman, Ibrahim Kalin, told journalists earlier on Thursday without giving a specific date.

The Saudi-led intervention marked a major escalation of the Yemen crisis, in which Shi'ite Muslim Iran supports the Shi'ite Houthis, and Sunni Muslim monarchies in the Gulf back Hadi and his fellow Sunni loyalists in Yemen's south.