Iran's president says Yemen airstrike offensive shows Saudi Arabia's 'mental imbalance'

Saudi soldiers are seen through a tent positioned at the Saudi border with Yemen in Jazan, Saudi Arabia, Monday, April 20, 2015. The Saudi air campaign in Yemen is now in its fourth week. (AP Photo/Hasan Jamali) (The Associated Press)

In this April 13, 2015 photo released by U.S. Navy Media Content Services, helicopters fly from the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt during a vertical replenishment with the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson in the Gulf of Oman. The U.S. Navy has dispatched USS Theodore Roosevelt toward the waters off Yemen to join other American ships prepared to intercept any Iranian vessels carrying weapons to Houthi rebels, U.S. officials said on Monday. (Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Scott Fenaroli/ U.S. Navy Media Content Services via AP) (The Associated Press)

Smoke rises after a Saudi-led airstrike hit a site where many believe the largest weapons cache in Yemen's capital, Sanaa, on Tuesday, April 21, 2015. The Saudi-led coalition pounded Shiite rebels in Yemen on Tuesday, killing at least 19 in a city in the country's west, officials said. (AP Photo/Hani Mohammed) (The Associated Press)

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani says a Saudi-led offensive in Yemen was prompted by the Sunni kingdom's failures elsewhere, causing what he called a "mental imbalance."

Speaking to reporters Tuesday before heading to Indonesia, Rouhani mocked Saudi Arabia by calling it a country with dashed dreams in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon.

Rouhani said: "All the failures have accumulated and caused mental and emotional imbalance for that country."

Shiite Iran long has accused Saudi Arabia of supporting Sunni militants, including the Islamic State group in Syria and Iraq. Saudis accuse Iran of supporting Yemen's Shiite rebels — who overran the capital and later forced the country's Western-backed president into exile.

Tehran and the rebels deny any military links, though the Islamic Republic has provided political and humanitarian support to the Shiite group.