Rouhani says Yemeni oil attack 'warning'

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani said Wednesday Tehran did not want conflict in the region and accused the United States and the Arab coalition of starting a war in Yemen, according to Iranian news agencies.

"We don't want conflict in the region ... Who started the conflict? Not the Yemenis. It was Saudi Arabia, the Emirates, America, certain European countries and the Zionist regime [Israel] which started the war in this region," Rouhani said in a video carried by Iran's media.

Rouhani says Iran-aligned Houthis had attacked Saudi oil facilities at the weekend as a "warning," after attacks on hospitals, schools and markets in Yemen which have been blamed on the Arab coalition.

And Iran dismissed U.S. accusations over weekend attacks of Saudi Arabia's oil sites as a distraction from the realities in the Middle East, Iran's Students News Agency ISNA quoted Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif as saying Wednesday.

"The United States should seek to look at the realities in the region, rather than simply using distractions. We feel that the U.S. government is trying to somehow forget the realities in the region," Zarif said.

Tehran has denied involvement in the Sept. 14 attacks on oil plants, including the world's biggest crude processing facility, that initially knocked out half of Saudi production.

Also Wednesday, Saudi Arabia said it joined a U.S.-led coalition to secure the Mideast's waterways amid threats from Iran.

The Saudi military also planned to speak to journalists Wednesday in Riyadh to discuss the investigation into Saturday's attack "and present material evidence and Iranian weapons proving the Iranian regime's involvement." It did not elaborate.