As the US and Iran fought around the strait(海峡) of Hormuz last week, Donald Trump issued one of his typical threats. In an interview with a Fox News(美国保守派有线新闻频道) correspondent, Trump said Iran would be “totally wiped out as a country” if it retaliate(报复，反击)d for the latest wave of US airstrikes.
上周，美国和伊朗在霍尔木兹海峡一带交火，唐纳德·特朗普又发出他一贯的那种威胁。在接受福克斯新闻记者采访时，特朗普说，如果伊朗对最新一轮美国空袭进行报复，它将被“作为一个国家彻底抹掉”。
That threat by the US president to wipe out another country generated few headlines, even during a relatively slow news week by Trump administration standards.(美国总统要抹掉另一个国家的这一威胁，几乎没有登上什么头条——即便按特朗普政府的标准，那也算新闻相对清淡的一周。)
美国总统要抹掉另一个国家的这一威胁，几乎没有登上什么头条——即便按特朗普政府的标准，那也算新闻相对清淡的一周。
Trump has delivered this kind of warning so frequently over the past six months of his war against Iran that it hardly registers any more. But it’s important not to normalize(使正常化，使习以为常) Trump’s threats, which are usually accompanied by promises to devastate(摧毁，严重破坏) Iran’s infrastructure(基础设施) – vowing to destroy bridges and power plants. Those kinds of attacks would constitute(构成，属于) war crimes(战争罪：严重违反国际人道法的行为) under international law.
在过去的六个月对伊战争中，特朗普这类警告发得太频繁，以至于几乎不再引起任何注意。但重要的是，我们不能把特朗普的威胁当作常态——这些威胁通常伴随着摧毁伊朗基础设施的承诺，扬言要炸毁桥梁和发电厂。按照国际法，这类攻击构成战争罪。