Iran President Rouhani blames US, Saudi for conflict in region

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani accused the United States and a Saudi-led military coalition of starting a war in Yemen. PHOTO: AFP

DUBAI (REUTERS) - Iran's President Hassan Rouhani said on Wednesday (Sept 18) that Teheran did not want conflict in the region and accused the United States and a Saudi-led military 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 Saudi-led coalition.

Meanwhile, Iran's Defence Minister Amir Hatami said Teheran had no involvement in the attacks on Saudi Arabia's Aramco oil installations, the semi-official Tasnim news agency said on Wednesday.

"Rejecting comments about Iran's role in the operation, (Hatami) said the issue is very clear: There has been a conflict between two countries (Yemen and Saudi Arabia)," Tasnim said.

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