IRAN: SAUDI ATTACKS WARNING TO END YEMEN WAR

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani says Saudi Arabia should see the attack this weekend on its oil facilities as a warning to end its Yemen war.

Rouhani made the comments at a Cabinet meeting on Wednesday in Tehran.

FILE - In this Saturday, Sept. 14, 2019 file photo, a satellite image from Planet Labs Inc. shows thick black smoke rising from Saudi Aramco's Abqaiq oil processing facility in Buqyaq, Saudi Arabia. The assault on the beating heart of Saudi Arabia's vast oil empire follows a new and dangerous pattern that's emerged across the Persian Gulf this summer of precise attacks that leave few obvious clues of who launched them.

In the video released by state TV, Rouhani did not address U.S. and Saudi allegations that Iran was behind the attack Saturday.

A Saudi-led coalition has been battling Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthi rebels since March 2015.

France is sending experts to help investigate drone attacks on Saudi oil facilities.

French President Emmanuel Macron’s office announced the move in a statement Wednesday after the French leader spoke to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

The statement says the French experts are going at Saudi request to help “shed all light on the origin and methods” of the attacks.

Macron denounced the attacks and stressed the importance of Saudi Arabia’s security.

Macron’s office said Tuesday that France is continuing diplomatic efforts to reduce tensions around the Persian Gulf.

Saturday’s attack targeted the world’s largest oil processing facility and a major oil field in Saudi Arabia. Yemen’s Houthi rebels claimed the attack, though the U.S. and Saudi Arabia suspect Iran was behind the assault. Iran denies being involved.

Saudi Arabia says it is joining a U.S.-led coalition to secure the Mideast’s waterways after an attack targeting its crucial oil industry.

The state-run Saudi Press Agency carried a statement Wednesday morning quoting an unnamed official saying the kingdom had joined the International Maritime Security Construct.

That’s a mission already joined by Australia, Bahrain and the United Kingdom.

The U.S. formed the coalition after attacks on oil tankers that American officials blame on Iran, as well as Iran’s seizure of tankers in the region. Iran denies being behind the tanker explosions.

The U.S. military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

On Saturday, an attack struck the world’s biggest oil processing facility in Saudi Arabia. - AP