Houthis fire on Saudi oil sites; no US strike on Iran for first time in two weeks

Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthi militants fired on Saudi oil installations in two ports on the Red Sea coast on Saturday, but the United States held back from launching air strikes on Iran itself for the first night in two weeks. There was no immediate explanation from Washington of why it had abruptly halted a streak of 13 nights of escalating strikes since an interim deal to end hostilities collapsed, in retaliation for Iranian attacks on shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. 'It seems that our dear Iran had a peaceful night last night,' Health Ministry spokesperson Hossein Kermanpour said on X. After the quiet night in Iran, there were also no reports on Saturday of attacks from Iran on its Gulf neighbours, which have also been taking place daily in response to the U.S. attacks. However, the strikes from Iran's Houthi allies on Saudi Arabia were a sign that the war that has disrupted energy supplies from the Gulf could be spreading to a second major shipping route, and reigniting Yemen's own civil war. Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree said the group had successfully struck sites belonging to Saudi state oil giant Aramco in Jizan and Yanbu. Two Asia-based trading sources said that they had been informed of potential damage to fuel and oil storage sites at Jizan. In Yanbu, two ballistic missiles aimed at oil installations were intercepted by a U.S.-made Patriot battery operated in Saudi Arabia by the Greek military under an agreement with Riyadh, Greek security sources said. Yanbu is Saudi Arabia's main Red Sea oil port, where millions of barrels a day are loaded. The Saudi-led military alliance said it had bombed Houthi military positions on Friday in the Red Sea port of Hodeidah. U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday vowed 'major military punishment' for Tehran and the Houthis after the Houthis struck two Saudi tankers in the Red Sea. On Friday, however, Trump said he had not yet made a decision on new major strikes. 'We are talking to them,' he told reporters at the White House. 'I think they're being serious. I think ... they are being by far the most serious that we've seen them, but that doesn't mean we get there.' The move has contributed in recent days to one of the war's sharpest rises in global oil prices, with Brent crude spiking above $100 a barrel for the first time since May. The Yemeni civil war, during which hundreds of thousands of people died from fighting and famine, has been paused under a ceasefire since 2022. But that truce broke down this month, with the Houthis effectively joining the wider war their Iranian allies have waged since being attacked by the U.S. and Israel.