Houthi militants fired on Saudi oil installations at two Red Sea ports on Saturday, while the U.S. skipped air strikes on Iran for the first night in two weeks. Brent crude spiked above $100 a barrel this week for the first time since May. Reuters reports the fighting could spread the war to a second major shipping route.
Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthi militants fired on Saudi oil installations in two Red Sea ports 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, launched in retaliation for Iranian attacks on shipping in the Strait of Hormuz since an interim deal to end hostilities collapsed.
Axios, citing two unidentified sources familiar with the matter, said Trump on Friday directed the military not to conduct new strikes against Iran. The Pentagon and the White House did not return messages seeking comment on the pause in air strikes.
Aramco sites targeted at Jizan and Yanbu
Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree said the group had struck sites belonging to Saudi state oil giant Aramco in Jizan and Yanbu. Video shared on social media and verified by Reuters showed a large column of smoke rising from the direction of the Aramco refinery in Jizan.
Two Asia-based trading sources said they had been informed of potential damage to fuel and oil storage sites at Jizan. Aramco did not respond to requests for comment. In Yanbu, Greek security sources said two ballistic missiles aimed at oil installations were intercepted by a U.S.-made Patriot battery operated in Saudi Arabia by the Greek military.
Why the two Red Sea ports matter
Yanbu is Saudi Arabia's main Red Sea oil port, where millions of barrels a day are loaded, and it has become the main route out for Saudi oil skirting the Strait of Hormuz, which has been blockaded by Iran. Jizan, on the Red Sea close to the Yemeni border, is the site of a refinery with a capacity of 400,000 barrels per day.
Global oil prices soared this week. Brent crude spiked above $100 a barrel for the first time since May.
Trump weighs a wider target list
The Houthis have declared a naval blockade of Saudi Arabia over the past week, and Houthi leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi said all Saudi oil facilities could be targets. Trump on Friday vowed "major military punishment" for Tehran and the Houthis after the Houthis struck two Saudi tankers in the Red Sea.
He has threatened in recent days to widen the range of targets to include Iran's energy plants and bridges, send ground forces to seize its oil hub of Kharg Island, and bomb a deep-underground nuclear-linked site known as Pickaxe Mountain. Yet on Friday he also said he had not yet made a decision on major new strikes, and that the U.S. and Iran were in talks to negotiate an end to their conflict while Tehran was not yet ready for a deal.
Source: Reuters via Investing.com
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