President of Turkey's Religious Affairs Directorate Mehmet G�rmez met with�Iran's Supreme Leader�Ayatollah Khamenei�in Tehran during a visit to Iran amid a war of words between top officials from the two countries.

G�rmez, who was in Tehran attending an international conference, had a meeting with Khamenei for an hour and a half.

His visit comes amid mutual recriminations between the leadership of the two countries over each other's policies in the region, especially in Iraq and Syria.

Speaking to Al Arabiya over the weekend, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an spoke about deepening sectarian strife in the Middle East. The Turkish president slammed Iran for its policies in Syria and Iraq, while Iranian officials hit back at Erdo?an for his comments.

On Tuesday Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Caber Ansari said Erdo?an's comments which suggested that Iran's support for Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad originated from sectarian motives are expressed for certain political objectives. He said Iranian policies on Syria are grounded on two pillars: "the right of the Syrian people to determine their own future" and "rejecting the use of violence and terror as instruments to reach political objectives."

Previously on Sunday, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani accused archrival Saudi Arabia of promoting poverty and terrorism by continuing to bomb Yemeni rebels and by supporting armed rebels fighting to topple Assad in Syria.

Addressing a conference in Tehran, Rouhani suggested that destroying Syria will not strengthen governments in the region which support the anti-Assad rebels.

"Does the weakening of Syria benefit its Muslim neighbors? Does the destruction of Syria lead to the strengthening of Turkey, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates or other countries? Who is pleased by Syria's destruction other than Israel," Rouhani said.

Erdo?an said earlier, "If Iran hadn't supported Assad, we wouldn't be talking about a Syrian conflict today."

By Today's Zaman