US Strikes Tanker, Iran Retaliates... Vicious Cycle of Retaliation Continues

[Anchor]

The situation in the Strait of Hormuz is growing increasingly volatile. After the U.S. military launched retaliatory strikes on an Iranian oil tanker in response to Iranian missile attacks, Iran fired back with further retaliation. It is truly a vicious cycle of revenge.

Reporting from Washington, this is correspondent Jeon Byeong-nam.

[Reporter]

A U.S. missile strikes the bow of an Iranian oil tanker.

Engulfed in a barrage of incoming missiles, the entire vessel is ultimately consumed by flames.

On the 5th local time, the U.S. military attacked three oil tankers located off the coast of Kharg Island and other areas, which serve as key hubs for Iran's crude oil exports.

Earlier, Iran had attacked one U.S. aircraft carrier and one destroyer with multiple ballistic missiles. However, the U.S. Central Command stated that it "successfully evaded the attack" and launched an asymmetrical retaliation by striking three Iranian oil tankers in response to the assault on the two U.S. warships.

U.S. Central Command Chief Brad Cooper warned, "This is a message that if Iran provokes, it will pay an even greater economic price," adding, "If necessary, we will also destroy oil transport fleets."

However, analysts suggest there was also a calculated effort to manage the situation, as the U.S. refrained from directly targeting Kharg Island—which handles 90 percent of Iran's oil exports—and allowed crew members on some Iranian vessels to evacuate prior to the strikes.

Iran immediately pushed back.

It claimed that in counter-retaliation against the United States, it attacked six ships—exactly twice the number of tankers hit—consisting of three oil tankers and three U.S.-linked vessels.

[Statement by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (Read by state-run IRINN anchor) : The Iranian military will launch even stronger attacks against U.S. warships than before, and the scope of the attacks is likely to expand.]

The standoff between the U.S. and Iran has re-escalated following the U.S. military's strike on August 30 against an Iranian rocket launcher intended for laying sea mines.

As the two sides continue armed clashes without finding a thread of hope to resume dialogue, crude oil exports through the Strait of Hormuz last month were found to have plummeted by nearly 40 percent compared to pre-war levels.

(Camera reporting: Oh Jung-shik, Video editing: Nam Il, Design: Seo Seung-hyun)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.