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

ATHENS/WASHINGTON, July 25 (Reuters) - Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthi militants fired on Saudi oil installations in two ports on the Red Sea coast on Saturday, but the U.S. held back from launching air strikes on Iran for the first night in two weeks. Washington gave no immediate explanation of why it had abruptly halted a streak of 13 nights of escalating strikes... Despite the lull in the Gulf, fighting between Iran's Houthi allies and Saudi Arabia was a sign that the war, which has already disrupted energy supplies through the Strait of Hormuz, 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. Trump on Friday vowed 'major military punishment' for Tehran and the Houthis after the Houthis struck two Saudi tankers in the Red Sea. Axios, citing two unidentified sources, said President Donald Trump on Friday directed the military not to conduct new strikes against Iran.