Tensions between Turkey and its regional rival Iran have escalated since the ouster in December of Syrian strongman and Tehran’s key ally, Bashar al-Assad, by Islamists friendly to Ankara. On Tuesday, Turkey’s Foreign Ministry summoned Iran’s charge d’affaires in Ankara a day after the Islamic Republic called in Turkey’s envoy to air its displeasure over remarks by Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan criticizing Iranian policy in the region. 

Earlier Tuesday, Iran’s Foreign Ministry announced that Deputy Foreign Minister Mahmoud Heidari had met the Turkish ambassador to Tehran on Monday to discuss “recent remarks by Turkey’s foreign minister.” “The shared interests of both countries and the sensitive regional conditions necessitate avoiding inappropriate remarks,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

In an interview last week with Al Jazeera, Fidan called Tehran’s reliance on proxies “dangerous,” a thinly veiled reference to Iran’s policy of advancing its interests through Shiite militias in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon. “If you are trying to cause anxiety in a third country, other countries can also disturb you by supporting groups in your own country,” Fidan warned. “Others also have the same know-how and capabilities that they have. People in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.”  

Iran accuses neighboring Azerbaijan, a top ally of Turkey and Israel, of stirring separatism among its ethnic Azeris.