Foreign Minister Winston Peters is set to address media amid the escalating conflict between Israel and Iran.

It comes as Prime Minister Christopher Luxon calls for a more stable Middle East as he prepares to leave for China this week before continuing north to Europe to attend the Nato leaders’ summit in The Hague.

Peters will speak to reporters at Parliament about 1.30pm. A livestream of the press conference can be found at the top of this article.

Israel launched missiles against Iran on Friday night (local time), striking key nuclear sites, including the Natanz uranium facility in northern Iran, and plants in both Fordow and Isfahan.

Netanyahu has maintained that Israel’s attack on Iran was a “pre-emptive strike”, intended to dismantle a covert operation dedicated to building a nuclear bomb.

The two countries have since traded devastating attacks, some directed at residential areas.

According to reports, Iran’s health ministry said three days of Israeli strikes on the country had killed 224 people and injured more than 1200.

Luxon today told Herald NOW’s Ryan Bridge he wanted to see the Middle East “stable, secure and peaceful”.

“MFAT [the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade] have been monitoring this since the middle of last week. and so they’re looking after our own staff.

“NZDF have a number of staff in the region as well, often on peacekeeping missions.”

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon is calling for calm in the Middle East. Photo / Michael Craig

He confirmed all Kiwi staff were safe.

MFAT had advised all New Zealanders to leave Israel and any occupied Palestinian territories amid the Iran conflict.

Peters would also likely address New Zealand joining Australia, Canada, Britain and Norway in issuing travel bans on high-profile Israeli ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir due to their actions related to the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestine.

Speaking last week, Peters described the two ministers as “using their leadership positions to actively undermine peace and security and remove prospects for a two-state solution”.

“New Zealand is a long-standing supporter of the two-state solution. Ministers Smotrich and Ben-Gvir have severely and deliberately undermined that by personally advocating for the annexation of Palestinian land and the expansion of illegal settlements, while inciting violence and forced displacement,” he said.

In a statement, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio condemned countries that had applied sanctions.

“These sanctions do not advance US-led efforts to achieve a ceasefire, bring all hostages home, and end the war.

“We reject any notion of equivalence: Hamas is a terrorist organisation that committed unspeakable atrocities, continues to hold innocent civilians hostage, and prevents the people of Gaza from living in peace.

“We remind our partners not to forget who the real enemy is. The United States urges the reversal of the sanctions and stands shoulder-to-shoulder with Israel.”

Luxon, speaking to reporters last week, said the sanctions were targeted at the politicians because of their “extremist rhetoric”, including when it came to settlements in the West Bank.

He said New Zealand had “huge respect” for what the Americans were trying to do to achieve a ceasefire.