Yemeni vice president Khaled Bahah had called on the Houthis to heed a UN Security Council demand for an end to fighting, which the Red Cross said has pushed Yemen into a humanitarian catastrophe.
Air force planes from the Saudi-led coalition bombed the runway of the country's main airport to stop an Iranian flight landing, officials from both sides said, in a move that will further complicate humanitarian efforts to fly urgently needed aid into Yemen.
Saudi-led coalition spokesman Brigadier General Ahmed Asseri said the airport was bombed after an Iranian aircraft refused to coordinate with the coalition and the pilot ignored orders to turn back.
He said the bombing of the runway made it unusable for planned aid flights.
Airport officials said the strikes set a civilian aircraft operated by Yemeni Felix Airways ablaze, adding that a cargo plane was also hit.
An official at the Yemeni civil aviation authority said the runway was targeted by 20 sorties that destroyed both the take-off and landing runways.
Iranian state news agency IRNA confirmed the incident, and said the pilots had ignored "illegal" warnings from Saudi jets to turn back before the runway was bombed.
IRNA said the plane was carrying humanitarian aid to Sanaa.
The Houthis' al-Masirah television station said the plane was scheduled to carry wounded victims of the Saudi-led strikes for treatment in Iran.
A civil aviation official said the airport at the Red Sea city of Hodeidah had also been bombed, but appeared to be still operational.
Officials said aid flights would be diverted to Hodeidah until Sanaa airport is repaired.
Houthis seized the capital Sanaa last September, demanding a more inclusive government and a crackdown on graft.
Talks with president Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi collapsed and he fled into exile, and chaos set in as the Iran-allied Houthi forces swept southwards, fighting loyalist army units, regional tribes and Al Qaeda militants.
Top world oil exporter Saudi Arabia, rattled by what it sees as expanding Iranian influence in the region, has been leading a Gulf Arab coalition in waging air strikes on Houthi targets since late March.
Riyadh said the campaign moved to a new phase last week, but fighting has intensified again since Sunday.
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