MOSCOW, October 13. /TASS/. Iran wants to build friendly relations with Russia and all Middle East countries, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said.

"We want to have good and friendly relations with Russia, with which we have been maintaining good relations for a long time, as well as with all countries of the [Middle East] region," he said in an interview with the Moscow.Kremlin.Putin program, a fragment of which was released on the Vesti television channel.

Tensions flared up again in the Middle East on October 7 after militants from the Gaza Strip-based radical Palestinian group Hamas launched a surprise incursion on Israeli territory, killing many Israeli kibbutz residents living near the Gaza border and abducting more than 250 Israelis, including women, children and the elderly. Israel declared a total blockade of the Gaza Strip and launched bombardments of the enclave and some areas in Lebanon and Syria, as well as a ground operation against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Clashes are also reported in the West Bank.

On October 1, Iran launched a massive missile attack against the Jewish state in response to the killing of senior officials from the Palestinian movement Hamas, the Lebanon-based Shia movement Hezbollah and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Tehran said that 90% of the missiles hit their designated targets. Israel, in turn, said that Iran had fired some 180 missiles into the country, most of which were intercepted. The Israeli General Staff vowed to choose the right moment to surprise Iran with a counterattack, while Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned that Israel would see even larger-scale strikes.