Syria ally Iran urges calm over downed Turkish jet A Turkish pilot salutes before take-off at an air base in Konya, Turkey. IRAN urged Ankara and Damascus to show "restraint" over Syria's shooting down of a Turkish fighter jet, Iranian state media reported today. Tehran "asks both sides to show calm and restraint and hopes that with tact and tolerance and dialogue, this issue will be evaluated and through a peaceful resolution, tranquility and stability will be preserved in the region," Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi was quoted as saying. Iran is the staunchest ally of Syria, which is embroiled in a 15-month conflict UN officials fear has become a civil war. Turkey, a NATO member, sits on the other side as a critic of Syrian President Bashar al Assad's crackdown on the unrest. A Syrian anti-aircraft battery near the Turkish border on Friday shot down a Turkish Phantom warplane that Damascus said violated its airspace by flying in low and fast from the Mediterranean. Turkey has taken care not to inflame the sensitive incident by admitting that its aircraft may have entered Syrian territory, though it suggested it could have been unintentional. Still, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Ankara would "announce its final position and take necessary steps with determination after the incident is entirely clarified." Syria and Turkey said their navies were coordinating a search for the Phantom's two pilots.