* Air defences intercepted two missiles launched from Yemen,

sources say

* Reports of damage to Saudi oil depot

* No US attacks on Iran for first time in two weeks

* Sources say Pakistan exploring path to more talks

* Trump says US forces "locked and loaded" for more attacks

By Lefteris Papadimas and Idrees Ali

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 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.

WAR THREATENS TO SPREAD TO YEMEN

Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree said the group had

successfully 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 that 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, 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, and 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.

In Yemen, the air force of the Saudi-backed, internationally

recognised government, which has opposed the Houthis for more

than a decade, struck Houthi missile and drone launch sites and

arms depots in the Marib and al-Jawf provinces, Yemeni officials

said.

Earlier, the Saudi-led military alliance said it had bombed

Houthi military positions on Friday in the Red Sea port of

Hodeidah.

The Yemeni officials said both sides in Yemen's civil war

were mobilising forces along the front.

SAUDI-LED COALITION STRIKES HODEIDAH

Saudi Arabia has led an Arab coalition battling against the

Houthis for more than a decade since the Iran-aligned fighters

captured Yemen's capital, Sanaa.

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.

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.

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.

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.

An interim truce meant to end the war effectively collapsed

two weeks ago, with U.S. forces striking targets in southern

Iran in response to Iranian disruption of shipping in the Strait

of Hormuz.

Trump 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.

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."