BEIJING: China has privately urged Iran to help restrain Yemen's Houthi movement following a request from Saudi Arabia, after Houthi forces made rapid military gains along the Red Sea coast and near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, Reuters reported.
According to reports, Riyadh appealed to Beijing after the Houthi advances raised new risks to Saudi oil exports and regional shipping. While China has publicly called for restraint, dialogue and the resumption of safe navigation, its private appeal to Tehran went further, the sources said.
It was not clear how the message was conveyed, or whether it came up during Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi's visit to China on Wednesday. The sources said Iran's response was that regional stability depends on ending the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran. They added that Chinese officials did not threaten economic consequences if Tehran declines to act.
In a statement to Reuters, China's foreign ministry said it does not want to see regional tensions spill into Yemen and the Red Sea, adding that "escalating regional instability is not in the interests of any party." The ministry called for dialogue and negotiation and said facilities vital to people's livelihoods must not be targeted.
Iran's foreign ministry and the Saudi government's media office did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
China has been Iran's top trading partner for more than a decade and buys the bulk of its oil exports. Chinese purchases made up more than 80% of Iran's seaborne oil exports last year, averaging about 1.4 million barrels per day, according to Kpler, a commodities data firm.
"Beijing is one of the few capitals that can still press Iran to rein in the Houthis," a senior Western diplomat in the region said.
The Houthis, who trace their origins to a 1990s movement opposed to Saudi religious influence in Yemen, are backed militarily and financially by Iran as part of Tehran's self-described "Axis of Resistance," according to Iranian and Western officials.
The stakes are heightened by the fact that Iran has already effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world's key oil chokepoints. Analysts warn that sustained Houthi attacks in the Red Sea could disrupt the region's two main oil export routes at once, deepening a global energy crisis and widening Iran's confrontation with Washington.
"China depends on both" chokepoints, one of the Iranian sources said, noting that Iran and its allies now hold leverage over each end of the region's shipping corridor.
Alex Vatanka, director of the Iran Program at the Middle East Institute in Washington, said China's interests in the Middle East extend beyond its relationship with Iran. Roughly half of China's oil imports come from the region, and trade between China and Gulf Cooperation Council countries totals about $300 billion a year.
"Iran can disrupt Hormuz. But at some point that leverage begins hurting the very power Tehran increasingly depends on," Vatanka said.
It remains uncertain whether Iran will act on Beijing's concerns, the Iranian sources said. Still, they noted that the relationship carries substantial weight for Tehran as it grapples with U.S. hostility and a sanctions-battered economy. China is among the few nations capable of providing the investment Iran needs to sustain its oil sector.
Beijing has previously shown diplomatic influence in the region, brokering a 2023 agreement that restored diplomatic ties between Iran and Saudi Arabia after years of estrangement. But that influence has limits — some in Iran have criticized the relatively modest levels of Chinese non-oil investment since the two countries signed a 25-year cooperation agreement in 2021, especially compared with Beijing's larger commitments to Gulf Arab states.
"Tehran and Beijing need each other. China is a factor Tehran cannot ignore, and Beijing wants Hormuz reopened and Red Sea shipping secured," the Western diplomat said.
Analysts say the real test of China's resolve will be whether it is willing to attach consequences to its demands — and whether it ultimately uses its economic leverage over Tehran to back them up.
