His remarks came after Bahram Qassemi, the Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman, said Turkey “should not test Iran’s patience.”

“Those who have immature dreams about rebuilding an empire and have taken meddlesome, illegal and illegitimate measures and supported terrorist groups cannot shirk their responsibility for such moves through a blame game,” Qassemi said in a statement late Feb. 19, as quoted by Iran’s Tasnim News Agency.

“They should be aware that insecurity and instability in the region has no perpetrator other than them and some other paranoid states,” he added.

Qassemi referred to Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Çavushoglu’s speech in the Munich Security Conference in Germany, where he called on Iran to stop conducting sectarian policy for the sake of maintaining regional stability and security.

“Iran wants to turn Syria and Iraq into Shi’ite,” Chavushoglu told delegates at the security conference, adding that Turkey was against sectarianism in the Middle East and had called on Iran to stop threatening the region’s stability.

In addition, President Recep Tayyip Erdoghan said Feb. 14, during his visit to Bahrain, that Iran was pursuing “Persian nationalism” in the region.

Iran on February 20 summoned the Turkish ambassador in Tehran on Monday over comments made by Çavuşoğlu and Erdoğan.

But on Feb. 20, Turkish Deputy Prime Minister and government spokesman Numan Kurtulmuş struck a more conciliatory tone, downplaying any reports of tension.

“Iran and Turkey are friendly nations. There can be differences in views from time to time, but there can’t be animosity because of comments,” he told reporters during a news conference after a cabinet meeting.

“Even if our political differences with Iran emerge, these shouldn’t be blown out of proportion,” he said.