The top diplomats of Iran and Saudi Arabia spoke by phone to discuss “growing insecurity” in the region, Tehran said, without mentioning recent fighting in Yemen, where the two countries support opposing sides.

Tehran militarily and financially backs Yemen’s Houthis, who for years have held large parts of the country’s north and on Thursday seized the strategic Red Sea port city of Mocha.

Riyadh has long supported Yemen’s internationally recognised government, and has been carrying out airstrikes on the Houthis since they began their advance, the group has said.

Saudi Arabia and Iran have also found themselves at odds during the wider Middle East war, which saw Tehran launch strikes on Saudi oil infrastructure and US-linked targets in the Gulf kingdom.

Iranian top diplomat Abbas Araghchi spoke with his Saudi counterpart Faisal bin Farhan on Thursday evening about “the escalation of tensions and the growing insecurity in the region”, according to Tehran’s foreign ministry.

The summary of the call said the two parties “emphasised the need to continue cooperation and diplomatic efforts in order to prevent the spread of tensions and reestablish stability”.

Though the ministry did not specifically mention Yemen in the readout, a separate statement addressing the fighting there insisted it was “impossible to resolve the Yemeni crisis through… military intervention”.