Saudi Arabia called on Tuesday for a Yemen free of "militias supported by Iran," in its first official statement since rebels killed their erstwhile ally former president Ali Abdullah Saleh.

"The Saudi Arabian cabinet expresses the hope that the uprising of the Yemeni people against the sectarian terrorist Huthi militias supported by Iran will free Yemen of abuse, death threats and the appropriation of public and private property," it said in a statement published on the official SPA news agency.

Saleh was killed by Yemen's Iran-backed Huthi rebels on Monday, 48 hours after he announced he was open to talks with Saudi Arabia and its allies, ending three years of uneasy alliance with the rebels.