Russia and Iran have held consultations in Moscow on regional issues, with a focus on resolving conflicts in the Middle East and North Africa, the Russian Foreign Ministry says, Al Jazeera cites Iran’s state news agency IRNA.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Georgy Borisenko has met Mehdi Shoushtari, the director general for West Asia and North Africa at Iran’s Foreign Ministry, who travelled to Moscow to take part in consultations between the two foreign ministries on regional issues.

Borisenko has also met the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation’s deputy secretary-general for political affairs, Yousef Aldobeay, who was in Moscow for an international forum on collective security, according to IRNA.

They have discussed rising tensions in the Gulf and the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, and stressed the need to resolve crises through political and diplomatic means, in line with international law, it adds.