Israel’s foreign minister Israel Katz has disclosed that he wrote to 32 countries and spoke with dozens of foreign ministers following the major Iranian attack on Israel.

He called for sanctions to be imposed on Iran’s missile programme and for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to be declared a terrorist organisation.

“This morning I sent letters to 32 countries and spoke with dozens of foreign ministers and leading figures around the world calling for sanctions to be imposed on the Iranian missile project and that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps be declared a terrorist organisation, as a way to curb and weaken Iran,” Katz wrote on Tuesday on X via @Israel_katz.

“Iran must be stopped now – before it is too late,” he added.

AFP also reports that European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Tuesday that Brussels was starting work on expanding sanctions against Iran after Tehran’s attack on Israel.

Speaking after an emergency online meeting of the EU foreign ministers, Borrell said the bloc would look to toughen measures against Iran’s supplies of weaponry – including drones – to Russia and proxy groups around the Middle East.

“Some member states propose the adoption of expanded restrictive measures against Iran,” Borrell said.

The EU’s top diplomat said he was requesting his service “start the necessary work related to the sanctions”.

EU foreign ministers held urgent talks after Iran’s unprecedented weekend drone and missile onslaught against Israel, which caused little damage.

Their meeting came on the eve of a two-day EU leaders’ summit in Brussels, during which the dangerous escalation in the Middle East will loom large on the agenda.

Tehran’s first-ever direct assault on Israeli soil came in response to a deadly attack on its consulate in Damascus widely blamed on Israel.

Borrell said the EU countries roundly reiterated their condemnation of Iran’s attack and backed Israel’s right to self-defence.

“We have to move away from the edge of the abyss,” Borrell said.

The EU has already slapped sanctions on Iran over supplies of drones to Russia for its war in Ukraine and has threatened to punish Tehran if it gives missiles to Moscow.

Borrell said some member states had raised the possibility of adding Iran’s Revolutionary Guards to the EU’s terrorist blacklist, but he insisted this first required a legal ruling in a member state.