British Foreign Secretary David Cameron urged Israel not to retaliate after Iran's drone and missile attack, saying it should "think with head as well as heart" because Tehran's strike had been a near total failure.

The strike by more than 300 missiles and drones from Iran caused only modest damage in Israel as most were shot down by its Iron Dome defence system and with help from the US, Britain, France and Jordan. It followed a suspected Israeli airstrike on Iran's embassy compound in Syria on April 1.

"I think they're perfectly justified to think they should respond because they have been attacked, but we are urging them as friends to think with head as well as heart, to be smart as well as tough," Cameron told BBC TV.

He said he was urging Israel not to escalate the tensions in the Middle East.

"In many ways this has been a double defeat for Iran. The attack was an almost total failure, and they revealed to the world that they are the malign influence in the region prepared to do this. So our hope is that there won't be a retaliatory response," he told Sky News.

Cameron said Britain would also work with allies to look at imposing more sanctions on Iran, and it urged Israel to return its focus on agreeing a ceasefire with Iran-backed Hamas in the Gaza war.

(Reporting by Reuters)