[Anchor]
The United States and Iran have engaged in armed conflict for the second consecutive day over the Strait of Hormuz. As tensions escalate, President Trump has switched to a different presidential aircraft for security reasons, while hardliners in Iran are increasingly calling for an end to negotiations.
Reporter Park Won-gyeong has the story.
[Reporter]
After concluding the NATO summit in Turkey, President Trump stopped at a British airbase, where he disembarked from the older presidential aircraft he had arrived in and boarded a newer one waiting for him to head to the United States.
The Secret Service requested the change of aircraft for security reasons following the resumption of armed conflict with Iran, and Trump claimed that Iran is targeting his life.
[Trump/U.S. President: I may not be safe either. As is already known, I am their top target for elimination. I am the number one target for those vicious people.]
The U.S. military reportedly struck 90 targets, including Iranian missile and drone storage facilities, for two consecutive days, leaving 14 people dead and 78 injured.
In particular, a railway bridge leading to Mashhad, where the funeral for Khamenei is being held, was hit, leading to a complete suspension of rail operations.
Reports indicate that Trump ordered the airstrikes in fury after Iran attacked merchant ships in the Strait of Hormuz, despite an agreement to pause negotiations out of respect for Khamenei's funeral schedule.
Iran also launched retaliatory airstrikes for the second day, targeting Bahrain, Kuwait, and Qatar, where U.S. military bases are located.
Inside Iran, calls for hardliners to break off negotiations with the U.S. are growing.
[Iranian Citizen: If the deal is to be broken, we will be the ones to break it, and they (the U.S.) are the ones who should be desperate and clinging to us. They are the ones who are desperate right now, certainly not us.]
During the funeral ceremony for Khamenei on July 6, President Pezeshkian and Foreign Minister Araghchi, both seen as proponents of negotiation, were threatened and pelted with stones by the crowd.
[Shameful! Shameful!]
Iranian state television has fueled anti-American sentiment by releasing footage of Khamenei's office, which was destroyed in an explosion on the first day of the war last February.
The White House is also reportedly preparing for the possibility that this military tension with Iran could last for more than a month, making it unlikely that follow-up peace negotiations between the two countries will be held anytime soon.
(Video Editing: Park Chun-bae)
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