罗姆尼被迫澄清对伊朗核设施立场

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.

关于以色列是否有权对伊朗实施军事打击，米特•罗姆尼(Mitt Romney)被迫做出澄清，此前，他的一名高级助手在这一问题上阐述的政策，其强硬程度远远超过了奥巴马(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.

罗姆尼在耶路撒冷发表主题演讲之前，他的一位高级顾问支持以色列有权对伊朗核设施发动单边打击。

"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.

罗姆尼的外交政策顾问丹•塞诺(Dan Senor)说："如果以色列自身不得不采取行动来阻止伊朗发展核武器方面的能力，罗姆尼州长将尊重这一决定。"

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，在美国电视讲话以及此次耶路撒冷的讲话中，罗姆尼昨晚只是表示，他支持以色列"自我防卫的权利"。上述相互矛盾的言论发表之际，正值罗姆尼为期六天的海外之旅中最为敏感的一天。

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.

他原希望利用这一场合说明美国总统奥巴马对伊朗的立场不够强硬，并试图从美国犹太人社区中赢得更多的选票，因为传统上犹太人是支持民主党的堡垒。

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.

在展开以色列之行前，罗姆尼在英国为竞选造势而度过了艰难的几天。在英国，这位共和党总统候选人由于指出伦敦奥运准备工作中的问题而遭到英国首相戴维•卡梅伦(David Cameron)的斥责。