Turkey 's Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on Thursday reassured Iran that Ankara wouldn't allow Turkish soil to be used for any attack against a neighbor, during a trip to Tehran focused on averting a Sunni-Shia "cold war" in the region.

Mr. Davutoglu's two-day visit highlights Ankara's increasingly delicate position, caught between Iran--a neighbor capable of causing Turkey significant economic and strategic damage--on one side, and Western allies determined to end Tehran's alleged nuclear-weapons program on the other, analysts said.

The visit, during which Mr. Davutoglu also met with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and with Moqtada al-Sadr, the radical Shiite cleric from Iraq , came as the U.S. and the European Union are ramping up sanctions to block international purchases of Iranian oil, Tehran 's primary source of revenue.

Though not binding on Turkey , the U.S. sanctions would penalize Turkish companies that purchase Iranian oil, unless they can secure a special waiver. Turkey gets 30% of its oil from Iran and is among Iran 's top consumers of crude, at just over 200,000 barrels a day. Halting those purchases would severely antagonize Tehran , which says its nuclear program is purely civilian, analysts say.

For Ankara there is more at stake than oil or the $15 billion of total annual trade between the two countries. Iran , which is mainly Shiite, and Turkey , which is mainly Sunni, find themselves supporting opposing sides in sectarian disputes in both Syria and Iraq , drawing the two neighbors into a regional rivalry with high stakes.

On Thursday, Mr. Davutoglu appeared to try to smooth tensions in a relationship that until last year had been close. At a joint news conference with his Iranian counterpart, Ali Akbar Salehi, Mr. Davutoglu said a North Atlantic Treaty Organization missile-defense system, whose radar Turkey has agreed to host, wasn't directed at Iran or any specific country, according to Iran 's Fars news agency. He also pledged that Turkey would never allow its soil to be used to launch an attack on a neighbor, the agency said.

The U.S. maintains an air base in eastern Turkey and has kept on the table a military option to deter Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.

As U.S. forces leave Iraq , Turkish diplomats say they have become increasingly concerned over the risk that sectarian conflicts could partition the country among Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds. A partitioned Iraq could also inflame Turkey 's troubles with its own Kurdish militants from the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, analysts say. Iran , Iraq and Syria all border Turkey .

"Some circles are inclined to start a cold war around the Sunni-Shiite tension, which would have an impact for decades. In my visit I will especially bring this up," Mr. Davutoglu said before flying to Tehran on Wednesday, according to Turkish state news agency Anadolu. "Regional sectarian tension would be suicide for the whole region," he said, referring also to the Gulf states .

The foreign minister's spokesman, contacted by phone in Tehran , confirmed that Mr. Davutoglu had followed through in raising the sectarian issue in his Tehran talks. He said Mr. Davutoglu would also raise the need to avert Shiite-Sunni conflict in coming visits to Moscow and Washington , as well as with other partners.

The spokesman also said Mr. Davutoglu conveyed an invitation from EU foreign-policy coordinator Catherine Ashton for Iran to restart nuclear negotiations with the so-called P5+1-- the permanent United Nations Security Council members plus Germany-- and that Mr. Salehi said Iran was ready to talk.

Mr. Salehi said Thursday that trade between Turkey and Iran would exceed $15 billion in 2012. The two countries clocked up just under that amount in the first 11 months of 2011, according to Turkey 's statistics agency. Any halt to Turkish oil purchases from Iran appears unlikely.

"The government have made it clear [to Washington ] that there is only so much they can do. They certainly won't stop buying oil from Iran ," said Soli Ozel, professor of international relations and political science at Bilgi University in Istanbul .

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