China asks Iran to hold back the Houthis

China has privately asked Tehran to help contain Yemen’s Houthis after Saudi Arabia asked China for assistance. This was reported by the Reuters news agency, citing informed sources in Iran.

Riyadh has turned to China for help after the Houthis’ rapid advance along the Red Sea coast and the Bab al-Mandeb Strait has put Saudi oil exports and shipping under greater threat.

Publicly, China called on the parties to exercise restraint, dialogue and restore shipping safety, but its non-public message was more specific, Reuters sources said.

Beijing wants Iran to use its influence over the Houthis and help prevent the conflict from spreading further into energy routes on which China, the world’s second-largest economy, depends.

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

Chinese officials have made no direct threats or signaled Beijing intends to put economic pressure on Tehran if it does not use its influence over the Houthis, three Iranian sources said.

Tehran responded that stability and peace in the region depended on ending the US-Israeli war against Iran, the sources said.