Turkey foreign minister meets Iran president in Tehran amidst tension over Syria

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu speaks during a news conference in Istanbul, Turkey January 25, 2018. REUTERS/Murad Sezer

ANKARA/BEIRUT (Reuters) - Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu met Iranian president Hassan Rouhani in Tehran on Wednesday amidst rising tension over Syria.

Earlier this week, Iran urged Turkey to stop its military offensive in Syria, saying the operation in the northern Afrin region breached Syrian sovereignty and would increase tension in the war-damaged country.

"Under the current circumstances, more consultation and cooperation is needed to resolve the Syria crisis," Rouhani said at the meeting, according to Iranian state media.

"We have to strive for a situation where no country in the region feels danger or a threat from its neighbours," he added, according to media.

(Reporting by Ece Toksabay and Tuvan Gumrukcu in Ankara and Babak Dehghanpisheh in Beirut; Editing by David Dolan)