Japanese Foreign Minister Kamikawa Yoko has called on Iran to make every diplomatic effort to avoid further tensions in the Middle East.

Kamikawa and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi spoke over the phone for about half an hour on Wednesday.

Iran has declared it wants to take revenge on Israel over the killing of a Hamas political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, in Tehran in July. But Iran has indicated that it will decide on the timing and method of retaliation after carefully seeing how talks progress between Israel and Hamas on a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.

Kamikawa said escalation of the situation would not be in the interest of the region or the international community. She urged Iran to exercise restraint saying that every diplomatic effort should be made to avoid further tensions.

Kamikawa also called on Iran to urge groups it has influence over, including the Lebanon-based Shia Muslim group Hezbollah, to exercise restraint.

Araghchi said Iran did not want an escalation of the current situation in the Middle East.

The foreign ministers confirmed that Japan and Iran would continue to maintain communication based on their traditional friendly relationship.

Kamikawa told reporters after the phone call that while maintaining a sense of urgency, utmost diplomatic efforts will be made to ease tensions.