[Anchor]
Saudi Arabia and the Iran-backed Houthi rebels have engaged in a full-scale clash over the Red Sea shipping lane, which serves as an alternative oil transport route to the Strait of Hormuz. Following attacks on Saudi oil facilities, international oil prices soared close to $100 a barrel, prompting the United States to blame Iran and impose new sanctions.
Reporting from Washington, here is correspondent Lee Hanseok.
[Reporter]
The Iran-backed Houthi militant group launched surprise drone and missile strikes targeting four cities in southern Saudi Arabia.
The targets included a Saudi air force base as well as key oil refineries and power facilities belonging to the state-run oil company Aramco.
Saudi authorities stated that 73 people were injured in the attack, and Saudi-led coalition fighter jets immediately launched retaliatory airstrikes on Sana'a, the capital of Yemen.
Over the past week of clashes between the two sides, more than 500 people have been killed, and around 18,000 refugees have been displaced.
This crisis marks the worst fierce battle yet over control of the Red Sea shipping route—Saudi Arabia's oil export lifeline—following the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.
As tensions stemming from the Middle East reached a fever pitch, global energy markets experienced massive turbulence, with Brent crude nearing $100 per barrel.
The U.S. administration pointed to Iran as the mastermind behind the situation, ramping up pressure to its highest level by slamming massive sanctions on 36 targets, including 27 Iranian commercial airlines.
[Trump / U.S. President: Iran will never have a nuclear weapon. Iran will not have a nuclear weapon.]
Meanwhile, Iran's Mehr News Agency reported that multiple explosions were heard on Kharg Island, a core hub for Iranian crude oil exports.
Iran has also launched counteractions.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps announced that it had seized an advanced U.S. Navy autonomous unmanned underwater vehicle in the Strait of Hormuz and warned that it would soon release related footage.
Qatar, acting as a mediator, urgently reached out to the international community, including China, in an effort to break the deadlock in the stalled end-of-war negotiations between the United States and Iran.
However, with the embers of all-out war spreading across the entire Middle East, these efforts appear overmatched in tearing down the deep walls of distrust between the U.S. and Iran.
(Video by Park Eunha | Video Editing by Cho Muhwan)
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