China urges Iran to rein in Houthis after Saudi Arabia’s appeal for help: Report
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "China urges Iran to rein in Houthis after Saudi Arabia’s appeal for help: Report")
China has publicly also called for restraint, dialogue and the restoration of safe navigation Photograph: (AFP)
China has been Iran’s largest trading partner for more than a decade and remains its main buyer of oil. Chinese purchases accounted for more than 80% of Iran’s seaborne oil exports in 2025, averaging about 1.4 million barrels per day.
China is reported to have confidentially asked Tehran to use its influence over Yemen’s Houthis to help rein in the Iran-backed group after Saudi Arabia appealed to Beijing for help, reported Reuters, citing three Iranian sources familiar with the matter.
The Saudi appeal followed rapid advances by the Houthis along Yemen’s Red Sea coast and around the Bab el-Mandeb Strait in the past week, leaving Riyadh’s oil exports and shipping more exposed, the sources said.
The Houthis emerged in the 1990s in opposition to Saudi Arabia’s Sunni religious influence in Yemen and are armed, trained and funded by Iran. They form part of Tehran’s anti-Western, anti-Israel “Axis of Resistance”.
China has publicly also called for restraint, dialogue and the restoration of safe navigation. But its private message to Tehran went further, as Beijing asked Iran to help prevent the conflict from spreading across energy routes on which China, the world’s second-largest economy, depends.
The Iranian sources did not reveal how the message was delivered or whether it was conveyed during Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araqchi’s visit to China on Wednesday.
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They just said that Tehran said in response that stability and peace in the region depend on ending the US-Israeli war on Iran.
Chinese officials did not issue any explicit threat or indicate that Beijing would impose economic pressure on Tehran if it failed to use its influence over the Houthis.
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In response to a Reuters request for comment, China’s foreign ministry said, “China does not wish to see regional tensions further spill over into Yemen and the Red Sea. Escalating regional instability is not in the interests of any party.”
“The sovereignty and security of all countries should be respected, and facilities vital to people's livelihoods must not be targeted. China calls for an end to actions that further complicate the situation and urges resolving issues through dialogue and negotiation,” it added.
China has been Iran’s largest trading partner for more than a decade and remains its main buyer of oil. Chinese purchases accounted for more than 80% of Iran’s seaborne oil exports in 2025, averaging about 1.4 million barrels per day.
The Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia have added another pressure point to an energy market already disrupted by the wider war. The Strait of Hormuz has been effectively shut since Iran began blocking the waterway, while sustained Houthi attacks on vessels or ports in the Red Sea could disrupt another major route for Middle Eastern oil exports.
Besides, a prolonged closure of Saudi Arabia’s East-West oil pipeline could affect as much as 4% of global oil supply.
Oil prices fell in early Thursday trade after reports that Saudi Arabia was offering additional crude cargoes through Oman.
China has demonstrated diplomatic influence in the region before, when in 2023, it brokered an agreement that restored diplomatic ties between Iran and Saudi Arabia after years of hostility.
