Iran's Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian has said Israel's war on Gaza, where it is "massacring women and children" should be a bigger concern than the stopping of "Zionist" ships in the Red Sea, Iranian state media reported.

The Iranian foreign minister's remarks came in response to a phone call by the British Foreign Secretary David Cameron on Sunday.

"The Israeli regime cannot be allowed to commit massacres of women and children and genocide in Gaza and set the region on fire, while the stopping of a Zionist ship in the Red Sea is seen as endangering the security of this economic waterway," the Iranian state media quoted Amirabdollahian as saying.

British Foreign Secretary Cameron said he had made clear in a call with Amirabdollahian that Iran shared responsibility for preventing Houthi attacks in the Red Sea.

"I made clear that Iran shares responsibility for preventing these attacks, given their long-standing support to the Houthis," he said in a post on social media site X, adding that the attacks "threaten innocent lives and the global economy".