RIYADH • If an investigation shows that the Sept 14 attack on Saudi Arabian oil facilities was launched from Iran, Riyadh will consider it an act of war, said a senior official, adding, however, that the kingdom is seeking a peaceful resolution.

"We hold Iran responsible because the missiles and the drones that were fired at Saudi Arabia... were Iranian-built and Iranian-delivered," Saudi Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Adel al-Jubeir told CNN late last Saturday.

"But to launch an attack from your territory, if that is the case, puts us in a different category... This would be considered an act of war," he said.

Mr Jubeir had told reporters earlier that Riyadh was awaiting the results of a probe, which it has invited international investigators to join, into the Sept 14 strikes that initially halved Saudi oil production - the largest-ever assault on oil facilities in the world's top exporter.

Riyadh has rejected a claim by Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthi movement that it had carried out the strikes.

Washington has blamed Teheran, which denies any involvement.

"If they continue along this path, then they risk the possibility of military action," Mr Jubeir said of Teheran.

"But nobody wants war. Everybody wants to resolve this peacefully and the end result has to be an end to Iran's aggressive policies."

Saudi Arabia has called the strikes on the Abqaiq and Khurais facilities a test of global will to preserve international order, and will look to form a united front at the United Nations General Assembly in New York this week.

"Appeasement with Iran does not work. For example, trying to set up a parallel financial payment system is appeasement. Trying to give them a line of credit is appeasement. It just emboldens them," said Mr Jubeir.

"The Iranians have to know that there will be consequences to their actions."

REUTERS