Sanaa: An Iranian aircraft carrying a Houthi delegation back from Tehran landed in Yemen on Monday, hours after the country's internationally recognised government said it had struck the runway at Sanaa International Airport in an attempt to prevent the plane from arriving, deepening tensions between the government, the Iran-backed rebels and Saudi Arabia.

Houthi-run broadcaster Al-Masirah quoted the group's transport minister as saying the Iranian aircraft had reached "the homeland's soil" carrying the official Yemeni delegation, along with medical patients and citizens who had been stranded abroad. The report, however, did not disclose where the aircraft landed.

The landing came despite the Yemeni government's earlier announcement that it had targeted Sanaa airport's runway to stop what it described as an unauthorised Iranian flight from entering Yemeni airspace.

According to Yemen's defence ministry, authorities had tried to persuade the Houthi delegation returning from Iran to board a Yemenia Airways flight instead. The ministry alleged that the rebels refused and insisted on using an Iranian aircraft, prompting the runway strike to prevent what it called a violation of Yemen's sovereignty.

The Houthis rejected that account and accused Saudi Arabia of carrying out the attack. Al-Masirah reported that the airport's departure and landing runways had been struck in what it described as Saudi aggression, while Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree warned that the move effectively ended the period of de-escalation and would not go unanswered.

The latest confrontation follows weeks of growing friction over flights between Iran and Houthi-controlled Sanaa. Earlier this month, the Houthis accused Saudi Arabia of targeting another Iranian aircraft that had landed in the Yemeni capital before departing with a Houthi delegation travelling to Tehran to attend the funeral of Iran's late supreme leader.

The rebels had warned that any further interference with Iranian flights could trigger attacks on Saudi airports and other strategic facilities.

With AP inputs