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RIYADH, Saudi Arabia—Chinese President Xi Jinping’s arrival here Tuesday kicked off a trip that puts his country at the center of a clash between Saudi Arabia and Iran over crude-oil sales, which are at the core of the regional economy.

China is the largest importer of crude from both Saudi Arabia and Iran, which have long been at odds over such issues as the wars in Syria and Yemen. The recent execution of Shiite cleric Nemer al-Nemer in Saudi Arabia led to violent protests against the Saudi embassy in Tehran, and Riyadh’s subsequent break of diplomatic ties with Iran.

With Western sanctions over its nuclear program lifted, Iran is preparing to boost its oil exports by 500,000 barrels a day. It is aiming much of that crude at China, Iranian officials say, a country that continued to buy its oil during three years of sanctions but at diminished levels.

China “used to be Iran’s largest buyer during the sanctions,” Amir-Hossein Zamaninia, a deputy petroleum minister in Iran, told state media last weekend. “Iran’s priority is to win back its market share.”