Drone Attack on Tanker Sparks Retaliatory Strikes Between US and Iran

[Anchor]

Tensions surrounding the Strait of Hormuz are escalating once again. Just two days after launching another airstrike against Iran, the United States faced retaliation as Iran targeted U.S. military bases in Jordan and Iraq.

Reporter Yu Deok-gi has the details.

[Reporter]

Two oil tankers anchored off the Iranian coast are successively blown up by missiles fired from U.S. military drones.

U.S. media reported that this action follows a new policy stipulating that if Iran attacks an oil tanker, the U.S. will retaliate by attacking Iranian tankers.

Having struck a rocket launcher used for laying sea mines two days prior, the U.S. military carried out a massive bombardment this time, targeting Iranian oil tankers along with more than 100 military objectives within Iran.

Iranian media reported that during this process, a bomb struck a wedding venue, killing five people, including children, and injuring more than 50 others.

Trump threatened that if Iran retaliates once more, it will be wiped off the map without a trace.

Iran immediately launched a counter-attack.

Having previously struck a U.S. air base in Jordan, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) claimed that it carried out additional retaliatory strikes using ballistic missiles and drones against U.S. military bases and assets in Jordan, Iraq, and Bahrain, resulting in the deaths of multiple U.S. service members in Jordan.

The Revolutionary Guard further announced that two oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz struck sea mines and were rendered inoperable.

[Ebrahim Zolfagari / Spokesperson for Iran's Central Military Headquarters: We warn that if the United States continues to commit malicious acts in this region, it will face an even stronger, broader, and more destructive response.]

Parliamentary Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Iran's chief negotiator with the U.S., pushed back against U.S. economic and military pressure, threatening that if Iran's oil export routes are blocked, it will resort to armed response and completely cut off oil exports from other nations as well.

As military clashes flare up just as mediation efforts to bring both sides back to the negotiating table were resuming, the situation in the Middle East has plunged once again into turmoil.

(Video Editing: Lee Seung-yeol, Design: Im Chan-hyuk, Park Tae-young)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.