[Anchor]

Foreign media reports suggest that the United States may prolong its war with Iran into next year. U.S. Vice President JD Vance declined to give a clear answer when asked whether the war could be concluded before the U.S. midterm elections, which are just two months away.

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

[Reporter]

U.S. media reports indicate that the Trump administration appears to be moving toward extending the war with Iran into next year.

Citing sources, the Wall Street Journal reported on the 2nd local time that "Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is reportedly taking steps to extend the deployment periods of U.S. forces in the Middle East without a separate public announcement."

Currently, 50,000 U.S. troops, including 19 warships and fighter jet squadrons, are stationed in the Middle East, and this move effectively extends their deployment through next year.

Initially, the U.S. planned to wrap up the war with Iran swiftly, but six months after the outbreak of hostilities, it has yet to find an exit strategy.

U.S. Vice President JD Vance presented the cessation of attacks on merchant vessels as a precondition for dialogue with Iran.

[JD Vance / U.S. Vice President : (The suspension of talks is) because Iran is firing on commercial vessels. They even signed an agreement promising to stop firing, only to resume firing almost immediately.]

He mentioned economic sanctions and military and diplomatic pressure, stating that there are still many additional tools available to pressure Iran.

He also claimed that such pressure is yielding results.

However, he failed to provide a clear answer when asked whether the war with Iran could be ended before the midterm elections in November.

[JD Vance / U.S. Vice President : I wouldn't call it a war. There are no actual combat engagements taking place right now. Asking when it will end is like asking, "When will the Iranians stop shooting at ships?" You'll have to ask the Iranians.]

Meanwhile, U.S. President Donald Trump stated that hundreds of billions of dollars worth of weapons have been transferred free of charge to NATO and Ukraine, and announced that he will demand repayment.

At the same time, he did not elaborate on how he plans to collect the funds.

As expectations grow that the prolonged war with Iran and its ensuing economic shock will act as a negative factor for the Republican Party in the November midterms, international oil prices continued to show mixed trends.

(Camera-the-field: Park Eun-ha | Video Editing: Park Chun-bae | Design: Shim Su-hyun)