Russian President Vladimir Putin held phone calls with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Friday after Israel hit Iran in a series of strikes.

Israel launched blistering attacks on the heart of Iran's nuclear and military structure Friday, deploying warplanes and drones previously smuggled into the country to assault key facilities and kill top generals and scientists -- attacks it said were necessary before the country got any closer to building a nuclear weapon.

The Israeli military targeted Iranian nuclear facilities, research scientists and senior military commanders in dozens of preemptive airstrikes​.

With Moscow’s back to the wall in Ukraine, Tehran may soon see that its new ‘strategic partnership’ with the Kremlin is not much help.

Israel's attack on Iran sparked the biggest jump in crude oil prices since Russia's invasion of Ukraine more than three years ago. Stocks fell sharply.

The statement said Putin, in his conversation with Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu "stressed the importance of a return to the process of talks and resolution of all issues concerning Iran's nuclear programme strictly through political and diplomatic means". The Kremlin statement said Russia would remain in close contact with both Iran and Israel.

Russia said on Wednesday it was ready to remove nuclear materials from Iran and convert them into fuel as a potential way to help narrow differences between the United States and Iran over the Islamic Republic's nuclear programme.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the U.S. was not involved in Israel's attack and warned Iran not to target U.S. forces. “Tonight, Israel took unilateral action against Iran. We are not involved in strikes against Iran and our top priority is protecting American forces in the region,