[Anchor]

Tensions surrounding the Strait of Hormuz are escalating once again. After the United States launched another airstrike against Iran within just two days, Iran retaliated by attacking 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 under which if Iran attacks an oil tanker, the U.S. will likewise strike Iranian tankers.

Having targeted rocket launchers used for deploying sea mines two days prior, the U.S. military this time carried out massive bombings targeting Iranian oil tankers along with more than 100 military objectives inside Iran.

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

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

Iran immediately launched a counterattack.

Having previously struck a U.S. military air base in Jordan, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps claimed that it launched additional retaliatory strikes using ballistic missiles and drones against U.S. military bases and assets in Jordan, Iraq, and Bahrain, resulting in multiple U.S. service member deaths in Jordan.

The Revolutionary Guard further announced that two oil tankers were disabled after striking sea mines in the Strait of Hormuz.

[Ebrahim Zolfaghari / Spokesperson for the Central Headquarters of the Iranian Armed Forces: 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.]

Ghalibaf, Speaker of Parliament and 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 not only resort to armed response but also completely cut off oil exports from other nations.

Amid the recent resumption of mediation efforts to bring both sides back to the negotiating table, the reignition of military clashes is plunging Middle Eastern affairs back into turmoil.

[Video Editing: Lee Seung-yeol, Design: Im Chan-hyuk, Park Tae-young]