The U.S. Asks China to Convince the Islamic Republic Not to Send Weapons to the Houthis

A U.S. official stated that Washington is asking Beijing to leverage its influence over the Islamic Republic to convince Tehran to stop sending weapons to the Houthis in Yemen. John Kirby, the Coordinator for Strategic Communications at the National Security Council, said during a press briefing at the White House on Tuesday, January 23, that 'given the access that the People's Republic of China has to Tehran's officials, Washington is asking Beijing to persuade the Islamic Republic not to send weapons to the Houthis in Yemen.' Kirby made these remarks in response to a question about whether Washington has asked the Chinese to pressure the Houthis to halt their actions in the Red Sea and surrounding waters. Kirby also stated that 'China has influence over Tehran' and 'they have the ability to have dialogues with Iranian leaders that we cannot.' This senior U.S. official continued: 'We have repeatedly asked China to constructively use the influence and access that we know they have to help prevent the continued flow of Iranian weapons and munitions to the Houthis, and we welcome that.' The White House's positioning came a day after the latest joint military action by the U.S. and the UK, supported logistically by Canada, Australia, the Netherlands, and Bahrain, against the Houthis in Yemen this month. In this attack, Houthi missile facilities and weapons depots were destroyed. In a joint attack two weeks ago by London and Washington, drone storage centers and their runways were also destroyed. The U.S. and the UK have stated that their actions aim to reduce the Houthis' capacity to carry out military actions against commercial shipping in the Red Sea and surrounding waters. Additionally, the Biden administration placed the Houthis on its list of global terrorist organizations last week. The aim of listing the Houthis is to impose sanctions that limit the group's access to financial resources while allowing vital humanitarian aid to continue to the people of Yemen. Furthermore, the UK plans to impose sanctions against the Houthis this week, a group that receives material and moral support from Tehran. So far, several rounds of joint attacks by the U.S. and the UK, as well as individual U.S. strikes last month, have failed to stop Houthi attacks on shipping. The Houthis' attacks have disrupted global shipping and raised fears of global inflation, as shipping companies have had to choose longer routes than the Red Sea to reach their destinations. The Houthis, who control the most populous areas of Yemen, claim that their attacks are in solidarity with the Palestinians in the retaliatory war against Israel's actions against Hamas, another Tehran-supported militant group in Gaza. However, none of the ships attacked by the Houthis have been related to Israel.