Russia urges Israeli restraint, says Iran has right to defend itself

MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russia is appealing to Israel to show restraint in the crisis with Iran, and believes Tehran is exercising its right to self-defence, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov was quoted as saying on Monday.

Israel launched a wave of strikes last Friday against Iran's nuclear sites and military leadership, and Iran has responded by firing missiles at Israeli cities.

"The potential dangerous consequences of strikes on nuclear infrastructure facilities are obvious to everyone. This is a cause for concern for the entire international community, but, in addition to this, we are, of course, watching how world markets react to what is happening," state news agency TASS quoted Ryabkov as telling reporters.

It was up to Israel, first and foremost, to show "restraint and common sense", he said.

Russia seeks to play an influential role in the Middle East, though it lost a major ally there last year with the toppling of Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad, to whom it had provided military support for almost a decade in the country's civil war.

Russia signed a strategic partnership treaty with Iran in January. It also has longstanding ties with Israel, though these have been strained by the Ukraine and Gaza wars.

The Kremlin said President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan agreed in a phone conversation on Monday that the Israel-Iran confrontation was fraught with risks for the entire region, and called for an immediate cessation of hostilities.

The Kremlin said Russia was still ready to mediate between Iran and Israel, and its offer remained on the table to remove highly enriched uranium from Iran and convert it into civilian reactor fuel as a possible way to defuse the crisis over Tehran's nuclear programme.

(Reporting by Marina Bobrova; Writing by Mark Trevelyan and Gleb Stolyarov, Editing by William Maclean)