Putin talks to Iranian President Raisi on Middle East crisis

Following Tehran's missile attack on Israel, Russian President Vladimir Putin has called on all sides in the Middle East conflict to exercise restraint in a telephone conversation with his Iranian counterpart Ebrahim Raisi.

In the conversation, Putin expressed his hope that there would not be another round of confrontation, the Kremlin press service reported on Tuesday.

An escalation could have catastrophic consequences for the entire region, he said. Russia has not explicitly condemned Iran's missile attack on Israel.

Iran had fired more than 300 rockets, cruise missiles and drones at Israel at the weekend. Israel and allied defences intercepted almost all of the incoming fire.

Iran said it was in retaliation for a suspected Israeli strike on an Iranian diplomatic compound in Syria that killed two Iranian generals and five officers.