UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron asks Chinese FM Wang Yi to use influence on Iran to pressure Houthis

Britain’s Foreign Secretary David Cameron asked his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi to use China’s influence on Iran press Houthis over their activities in the Red Sea.

A statement released by the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office on Saturday said that while discussing Britain’s bilateral relations with China, Cameron also “urged China to use its influence on Iran to pressure the Houthis over their actions in the Red Sea.”

Yi and Cameron met on the sidelines of Munich Security Conference.

Iran-backed Houthis’ drone and missile action in the Red Sea since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas in October 2023 has disrupted the movement of commercial vessels, affecting international trade and forcing many ships to change routes.

Several UK-bound and UK-owned ships have also come under attack by Houthis.

Ever since Houthi launched its offensive in the Red Sea, both the US and the UK, backed by allies, have begun counterstrikes in the region.

The US and Britain struck 36 Houthi targets in Yemen on Saturday. An air assault Friday in Iraq and Syria targeted other Iranian-backed militias and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard in retaliation for a drone strike that killed three US troops in Jordan.

During their meeting, Cameron set out the UK’s position across a number of areas of disagreement, including on human rights in Xinjiang and Hong Kong. He raised the case of British Parliamentarians sanctioned by China and reiterated his call for the release of British national Jimmy Lai.

With inputs from agencies