The war in Gaza was high on the agenda when Turkish politician Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Iranian politician Ebrahim Raisi met in Ankara.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said during a visit to Ankara by Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi that he and his Iranian counterpart had agreed to avoid steps that could threaten stability in the Middle East.

At a news conference after the meeting on Wednesday, Erdogan said the pair discussed ending Israel’s “inhumane” attacks on Gaza and the need for a fair and lasting peace in the region.

“We agreed on the importance of refraining from steps that further endanger the security and stability of our region,” he said, adding that they also agreed to continue cooperation against cross-border threats.

Al Jazeera’s Sinem Koseoglu, reporting from Ankara, said the meeting’s main agenda was Israel’s ongoing war on Gaza.

“No one expects the two leaders to stop what is happening in Gaza, but their goal is at least to contain the escalation and the growing crisis in the region, especially in Yemen, the Red Sea areas,” Koseoglu said.

“President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said they are committed to fighting terrorism,” she added.

Turkey, which has loudly condemned Israel’s attacks on Gaza, has called for an immediate ceasefire and supported legal action to allow Israel to be charged with genocide.

However, Ankara has maintained its trade ties with Israel, drawing criticism at home and in Iran.

Iran leads the so-called “Axis of Resistance,” which includes Hamas, the Houthis in Yemen and other Shiite Muslim groups in the region that have confronted Israel and its Western allies.

In a sign that the war on Gaza is threatening to spill over into the wider region, the United States and the United Kingdom have struck targets in Yemen in response to Houthi attacks on ships in the Red Sea.

The Houthis said their attacks in the busy waterway targeted ships linked to Israel and would continue as long as the war on Gaza continues.

Erdogan has condemned the US and British attacks on Yemen, calling them a disproportionate use of force.

Raisi accused the U.S. of supporting what he called Israeli crimes against Palestinians in Gaza and reiterated his call for Muslim nations to cut ties with the “Zionist regime.”

“What is happening in Palestine and Gaza is a crime against humanity … and the United States and the West support these crimes,” he said on Wednesday.

“Severing economic and political ties with this regime can certainly lead to the Zionist regime ending its crimes.”

Relations between Turkey and Iran have been complicated due to several issues, including the Syrian civil war.

Ankara-backed rebels have sought to overthrow Syrian President Bashar al-Assad while Tehran backed his government.

Recently, Turkey has taken steps to improve relations with Damascus.