UN sending experts to investigate attacks on Saudi oil facilities
Xinhua
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Smoke billows from Saudi oil giant Aramco's huge Abqaiq processing plant following a Saturday attack that Tehran insists was carried out by Yemeni rebels but Washington says originated in Iran. (Photo: AFP)

UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 18 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Wednesday that experts from the world body have left for Saudi Arabia to investigate Saturday's attacks on the country's oil facilities.

"Indeed, in line with Resolution 2231 of the Security Council, with the clear mandate for that purpose, the UN experts, indicated by the Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs, have already left for Saudi Arabia," Guterres told reporters.

The experts would report their findings to the Security Council, he said.

"I would like to say, independently of the results of whatever is going to be produced by these experts and others, that I strongly condemned this attack," said Guterres.

"I think this attack is a dramatic escalation in the Gulf, and I believe that we absolutely need to stop this kind of escalation and that we absolutely need to create the conditions to avoid the major confrontation in the Gulf that would have, as we have seen by the immediate impact on oil markets, ... devastating consequences for the region and globally," he said.