[Anchor]

The conflict between the United States and Iran has entered its second week amid a cycle of retaliation and counter-retaliation. While President Trump is pressuring Iran with the threat of a large-scale military operation, Iran is refusing to back down, warning that it will kill one U.S. soldier for every Iranian killed.

Lee Hanseok reports from Washington.

[Reporter]

The U.S. Central Command stated that it fired upon an Iranian oil tanker in the Gulf of Oman, just outside the Strait of Hormuz.

It explained that after the vessel attempted to breach the maritime blockade at least four times and ignored warnings given to the crew, forces disabled the ship's engine room.

This marks the second time the U.S. military has intercepted an Iranian vessel since resuming the maritime blockade on the 15th of this month.

U.S. President Trump warned that while the U.S. is engaged in serious talks with Iran, military action will follow immediately if an agreement is not reached.

[Trump / U.S. President: As you know, we are fully prepared. We have all postures in place and are ready to act immediately.]

He also warned China and Russia that very bad things would happen if they sell weapons to Iran or involve themselves.

Iran immediately retaliated.

The Iranian military announced through a statement that it had carried out precision strikes on three major U.S. military bases in Kuwait using suicide drones.

It also launched airstrikes against a surveillance tower of the U.S. 5th Fleet in Bahrain and a U.S. military base near Erbil Airport in Iraq.

The commander of the Iranian military's central command threatened that if any Iranians are killed by future U.S. airstrikes, one U.S. soldier will be killed for every single victim.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps warned citizens of countries hosting U.S. forces to immediately evacuate within a 500-meter radius of U.S. military facilities.

Amid the hair-trigger standoff between the two sides, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is scheduled to hold a summit with President Trump in Washington on the 28th.

As to whether the armed conflict between the U.S. and Iran will escalate into an all-out war, this upcoming summit is expected to be a critical turning point determining the direction of the Middle East conflict.

(Video footage by Oh Jung-shik | Video editing by Kim Ho-jin)