Japan’s foreign minister has urged her Iranian counterpart to “exercise restraint” following Tehran’s missile and drone attack on Israel, AFP reports citing a readout of their telephone talks issued by Tokyo.

Yoko Kamikawa told Hossein Amir-Abdollahian that “Japan is deeply concerned about the attacks by Iran against Israel, which further deteriorate the current situation in the Middle East, and strongly condemns such escalation”, the statement said.

She added that “the current situation is not in the interest of the international community as a whole, including Japan, not to mention that of Iran and the Iranian people, and strongly urged Iran to exercise restraint, stating that further escalation of tensions must be prevented”.

Kamikawa also “pointed out the importance of freedom of navigation and safety and called for Iran to ensure the safety of navigation in the waters of the region”, the readout added.