Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the escalation was cause for concern and was partly a consequence of the Gaza crisis.

Asked about the situation between Iran and Pakistan, he said Russia was maintaining contacts with both sides through diplomatic channels.

On Friday, Pakistan’s top civilian and military leaders will carry out a security review on the standoff with Iran, the caretaker information minister said, after the neighbours carried out drone and missile strikes on militant bases on each other’s territory.

Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar will chair a meeting of the National Security Committee, with all the military services chiefs in attendance, the minister, Murtaza Solangi, told Reuters by telephone.

It aims at a “broad national security review in the aftermath of the Iran-Pakistan incidents”, Solangi said. Kakar cut short a visit to the World Economic Forum in Davos and flew home on Thursday.