Saudi Arabia turns to China for help as Houthi advance threatens oil exports. Here is what Beijing, Tehran said | Today’s news

China has privately asked Iran to help rein in Yemen’s Houthis after Saudi Arabia turned to Beijing last week following a military attack by the Iran-backed group, three Iranian sources told Reuters.

According to the report, Riyadh turned to China for help after the Houthis advanced rapidly along the Red Sea coast and around the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. The moves have left Saudi oil exports and shipping more exposed, the sources said.

China has publicly called for restraint, dialogue and resumption of safe navigation, but its private message went further than public statements, the sources said.

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What do China and Iran want?

According to Reuters, Beijing wants Iran to use its influence with the Houthis to help prevent further spread of the conflict through energy routes on which China, the world’s second largest economy, depends.

The sources, who were briefed on the discussions and spoke on condition of anonymity, did not provide details on how the message was delivered or whether it was delivered during Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi’s visit to China on Wednesday.

Sources said Tehran’s response was that stability and peace in the region depended on an end to the US-Israeli war against Iran.

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Chinese officials have not made any explicit threats or hinted that Beijing would seek economic pressure on Tehran if it failed to use its influence over the Houthis, three Iranian sources said.

In response to a Reuters request for comment on this story, China’s foreign ministry said: “China does not wish regional tensions to spill over into Yemen and the Red Sea. Escalation of regional instability is not in the interests of any party.”

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“The sovereignty and security of all countries should be respected, and facilities vital to people’s livelihood must not be targeted. China calls for an end to actions that further complicate the situation, and urges to resolve issues through dialogue and negotiation,” the statement said.

Iran’s foreign ministry and the Saudi government’s media office did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment for this article.

Impact

China has been Iran’s largest trading partner for more than a decade and remains a major buyer of its oil. Chinese purchases accounted for more than 80% of Iran’s seaborne oil exports in 2025, averaging about 1.4 million barrels a day, according to commodity data and analytics firm Kpler.

“Beijing is one of the few major cities that can still pressure Iran to rein in the Houthis,” said a senior Western diplomat in the region.

The Houthis, who emerged in the 1990s in opposition to Saudi Arabia’s Sunni religious influence in Yemen, are armed, trained and financed by Iran, according to Iranian sources and Western countries, and form part of Tehran’s anti-Western and anti-Israel “Axis of Resistance”.

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Any threat from the Houthis to shipping in the Red Sea and through the Bab el-Mandeb strait risks a sharp worsening of the global energy crisis since Iran began blocking the Strait of Hormuz and raised the danger of a wider regional conflict.

With Hormuz already effectively sealed off, sustained Houthi attacks on vessels or ports in the Red Sea would simultaneously disrupt the Middle East’s two main oil export routes, opening a new front in both the energy crisis and Iran’s broader confrontation with the United States.

Iran and its allies are now putting pressure on both ends of a key maritime network in the region, one of the sources said, adding that “China depends on both.”

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Alex Vatanka, director of the Iran program at the Middle East Institute in Washington, said Beijing may oppose US pressure on Tehran, but its interests in the Middle East extend far beyond Iran. Roughly half of China’s oil imports come from the region, while trade between China and the Gulf Cooperation Council states totals around $300 billion a year.

“Iran can disrupt Hormuz. But at some point, that leverage starts to damage the power that Tehran increasingly depends on,” Vatanka said.

Will Tehran respond to China’s concerns?

According to three Iranian sources, it is unclear whether Tehran will act on the concerns raised by Beijing.

Nevertheless, the relationship carries significant economic and strategic weight for Iran as it continues to face hostility with the US, they said.

China is one of the few countries with the financial capacity to provide the investment Tehran needs to sustain its oil industry and ease pressure on its economy, wracked by war and sanctions.

Beijing has also demonstrated its diplomatic influence. In 2023, China brokered an agreement that restored relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia after years of hostility.

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However, this influence has its limits. Critics inside Iran have complained about China’s relatively modest level of non-oil trade and investment since the two countries signed a 25-year cooperation agreement in 2021, especially compared to China’s growing investment commitments in the Arab Gulf states.

China remains a factor Tehran cannot afford to ignore, but two of the Iranian sources said Beijing’s interests are only one of many considerations. Iran’s decisions are shaped by competing strategic, economic and political priorities, they said.

“Tehran and Beijing need each other. China is a factor that Tehran cannot ignore, and Beijing wants the reopening of Hormuz and the provision of shipping in the Red Sea,” the Western diplomat said.

Analysts say the key test will be whether China is prepared to bear the consequences of its demands. Ultimately, they say, the clearest sign of Beijing’s resolve would be evidence that it is willing to use its influence on Tehran.

(With inputs from Reuters)