The Iranian Foreign Ministry summoned the Turkish ambassador in Tehran on Monday, and Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan warned Iran not to undermine stability in Syria, Reuters reported, citing Iranian state television.
The Iranian Foreign Ministry said in a statement that a meeting had taken place yesterday between Turkish Ambassador Hijabi Kerlangic and Mahmoud Heydari, Director General for the Mediterranean and Eastern Europe at the Iranian Foreign Ministry.
“The common interests of the two countries and the sensitivity of the regional situation require avoiding erroneous comments and unrealistic analyses that could lead to differences and tensions in our bilateral relations,“ Heydari said.
Last week, the Turkish foreign minister gave an interview to Qatari television station “Al Jazeera“ in which he said that Tehran's foreign policy, which relies on armed groups, is “dangerous“ and must be changed.
“If you are trying to cause unrest in a third country, other countries can also disturb you by supporting groups in your own country,“ Fidan added.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghai said yesterday that Tehran and Ankara have differences on some issues.
“We highly value our bilateral relations with Turkey. Unfortunately, the words we keep hearing (from Turkey) are very unconstructive and it was necessary for Iran to state its position firmly and clearly in this regard,“ Baghai said. "Perhaps our Turkish friends need to think more about the Zionist regime's (Israeli) policies in Syria and the region," he added.
In response to Iran's diplomatic moves, the Turkish Foreign Ministry also summoned Iran's chargé d'affaires in Ankara and told him that foreign policy issues should not be used as a tool in domestic politics, a Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman said.
Meanwhile, Iranian officials have recently toured Gulf Arab states to persuade them to pressure Israel not to attack key targets in Iran. Fears of Israeli attacks on Iranian oil and even nuclear facilities have grown since Iran launched some 180 ballistic missiles at Israel on Oct. 1. Although some Gulf states have normalized relations with both Iran and Israel, and helped to defuse Iran's attack on Israel in April, experts are skeptical of their influence in this diplomatic arena.
“The Arab states have very little influence over Israel, but they do have some influence over Washington,“ said Trita Parsi, co-founder of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Government in Washington. The Gulf states also want to see Hezbollah weakened.