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A ray of hope for Iran after a brutal year
雨后的彩虹
A TERRIBLE YEAR for Iran got worse when the country's top nuclear scientist was killed. As the architect of Iran's nuclear weapons program, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh was a national hero, and his Nov. 27 assassination has ignited fury across the country. Iran's Foreign Ministry and state media were quick to pin blame on Israel.
顶尖核科学家的遇害让今年本就不堪重负的伊朗雪上加霜。穆赫辛·法赫里扎德是伊朗核武器项目的设计师，是伊朗的民族英雄，11月27日穆赫辛·法赫里扎德遭遇暗杀，引发了伊朗的全民愤怒。伊朗外交部和国家媒体随即将矛头指向以色列。
2020 began with the U.S. assassination in Iraq of General Qasem Soleimani, one of Iran's most powerful men, which was soon followed by Iran's military accidentally shooting down a passenger plane, setting off a round of antigovernment protests.
2020年伊始，美国在伊拉克刺杀了伊朗最有权势的人之一卡塞姆·索莱马尼将军，随后，伊朗军方意外击落了一架客机，引发了一轮反政府抗议。
Then came COVID-19. Iran became the first corona virus hot spot outside East Asia as Iranian officials lied about the severity of the outbreak to protect voter turnout for parliamentary elections that boosted handpicked hard-line candidates. Bungling by the government set off more demonstrations, and many more Iranians died than the government acknowledged. The economic toll grew heavier when the pandemic forced down the global prices of oil and natural gas, vital Iranian exports. In July, a fire at Iran's most important nuclear-fuel-enrichment site, which offi cials blamed on a bomb planted by Israel, inflicted enough damage to delay Iran's nuclear program by months.
再之后是新冠病毒。伊朗的议会选举中多了一些颇具实力的强硬派候选人，为了维护投票率，伊朗官员谎报了疫情的严重程度，致使伊朗成为东亚以外的第一个新冠病毒热点地区。政府的拙劣表现引发了更多的示威，伊朗的死亡人数比政府宣称的还要多。石油和天然气是伊朗重要的出口产品，当疫情迫使全球石油和天然气价格下跌时，伊朗遭受了更加严重的经济损失。今年7月，伊朗最重要的核燃料浓缩设施发生火灾，造成的破坏足以使伊朗的核计划推迟数月。官员们将火灾归咎于以色列安置的炸弹。
Nor can Iran be pleased to see its two main enemies—Israel and Saudi Arabia— taking steps toward better relations. According to Israeli offi cials, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in November—though the Saudis deny it happened. The meeting is historic, even if they have little in common beyond a mutual need for regional stability and a shared antipathy toward Iran.
伊朗也不愿看到自己的两个主要敌人——以色列和沙特阿拉伯——关系改善。据以色列官员称，去年11月，沙特王储穆罕默德·本·萨勒曼和以色列总理本杰明·内塔尼亚胡会晤了美国国务卿迈克·蓬佩奥——沙特对此表示否认。两国虽说除了在地区稳定和讨厌伊朗上有共同需求之外其它的共同点少之又少，但这次会晤仍具有历史性意义。
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