Ankara and Tehran are trying to keep the lid on tensions despite President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s outburst in March, when he accused Iran of trying to dominate the Middle East, which he said was “intolerable” and “had to be stopped.” But this has not prevented tensions spilling over into open warfare between the official and pro-government media outlets on both sides.

Fueling this warfare is the fact that Turkey and Iran remain seriously at odds over Syria, where they back opposite sides and have sectarian-based disagreements over other regional crises, from Iraq to Yemen, along the Sunni-Shiite fault line.

Erdogan’s remark in March clearly angered the Iranian side, where calls were made to cancel Erdogan’s planned visit to Tehran due to take place only a few days later. Meanwhile, a group of Iranian deputies had petitioned President Hassan Rouhani to reprimand Erdogan during the visit and demand an apology for his remarks aimed at Iran.

Erdogan was, nevertheless, greeted warmly in Tehran by Rouhani, with all the trappings of a state visit, leading some diplomats and analysts to comment that this alone was a message to Ankara indicating that the importance of Turkish-Iranian ties transcends Erdogan. Some recent developments even suggested that the two countries are working together in a proactive manner to resolve the crises in Syria and Yemen.