羅姆尼被迫澄清對伊朗核設施立場

Mitt Romney was forced to clarify his position on Israel's right to conduct a military strike on Iran after a senior aide outlined a far more hawkish policy than the Obama administration's.

關於以色列是否有權對伊朗實施軍事打擊，米特•羅姆尼(Mitt Romney)被迫做出澄清，此前，他的一名高級助手在這一問題上闡述的政策，其強硬程度遠遠超過了奧巴馬(Obama)政府。

Speaking before Mr Romney's keynote speech in Jerusalem, one of his senior advisers backed Israel's right to conduct a unilateral attack on Iran's nuclear facilities.

羅姆尼在耶路撒冷發表主題演講之前，他的一位高級顧問支持以色列有權對伊朗核設施發動單邊打擊。

"If Israel has to take action on its own, in order to stop Iran from developing that [nuclear weapons] capability, the governor would respect that decision," said Dan Senor, a foreign policy adviser to Mr Romney.

羅姆尼的外交政策顧問丹•塞諾(Dan Senor)說："如果以色列自身不得不採取行動來阻止伊朗發展核武器方面的能力，羅姆尼州長將尊重這一決定。"

However, in comments on US television and in the Jerusalem speech, Mr Romney would say yesterday night only that he supported Israel's "right to defend itself". The contrasting messages came on the most sensitive day of Mr Romney's six-day foreign trip.

然而，在美國電視講話以及此次耶路撒冷的講話中，羅姆尼昨晚只是表示，他支持以色列"自我防衛的權利"。上述相互矛盾的言論發表之際，正值羅姆尼爲期六天的海外之旅中最爲敏感的一天。

He had hoped to make the case that Barack Obama, US president, has not been forceful enough in his dealing with Iran, while also trying to attract more votes from the US's Jewish community, traditionally a bastion of Democratic support.

他原希望利用這一場合說明美國總統奧巴馬對伊朗的立場不夠強硬，並試圖從美國猶太人社區中贏得更多的選票，因爲傳統上猶太人是支持民主黨的堡壘。

The visit to Israel follows a difficult couple of days for the Romney campaign in the UK, where the presumptive Republican candidate was rebuked by David Cameron, prime minister, after he pointed to problems in the preparations for the London Olympics.

在展開以色列之行前，羅姆尼在英國爲競選造勢而度過了艱難的幾天。在英國，這位共和黨總統候選人由於指出倫敦奧運準備工作中的問題而遭到英國首相戴維•卡梅倫(David Cameron)的斥責。