Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said Tuesday that Yemenis would make those attacking their country regret their actions as a Saudi-led coalition pounded the rebel-held capital with heavy air strikes.

"The people of Yemen will make their aggressors regret their actions," Rouhani said in a televised broadcast, a day after the killing of ex-president Ali Abdullah Saleh by Iran-backed Huthi rebels triggered a renewed Saudi-backed offensive on the Yemeni capital Sanaa