为什么沙特阿拉伯认为伊朗是一个威胁?
时间:2019-01-12 作者:英语课 分类:2016年VOA慢速英语(二)月
AS IT IS 2016-02-07 Why Does Saudi Arabia Consider Iran a Threat? 为什么沙特阿拉伯认为伊朗是一个威胁?
Tensions continue to grow between Saudi Arabia and Iran.
As Iran rejoins the world community after reaching an agreement to limit its nuclear activities, some Saudis say Iran will threaten their country as it grows stronger.
Tensions increased between the countries last month when Saudi Arabia executed a well-known Shi’ite Muslim religious leader. After the execution, protesters attacked Saudi Arabia’s embassy in Tehran, the Iranian capital. Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Sudan and the United Arab Emirates either cancelled or limited diplomatic relations with Iran.
The Iranian government condemned 1 the attack. It said more than 100 people had been arrested. But some Saudis still place responsibility for the attack on Iranian leaders.
Saudi Arabia and Iran have opposed each other for many years. Some experts say the tensions began more than 1,000 years ago, when the Muslim religion Islam split into Shi’ite and Sunni sects 3.
Iran is the world’s most powerful Shi’ite-led nation. Saudi Arabia is the strongest Sunni-led country. There are also ethnic 4 differences between the two countries: Saudis are Arab, and Iranians are Persian.
The countries support opposing sides in the conflicts in Syria and Yemen. Many Saudis say if the group supported by Iran wins in either country, it would threaten the kingdom militarily and psychologically.
Iran supports the Syrian government in its war against rebels and Islamic State militants 6. Many experts say Iran supports Houthi rebels fighting Yemen’s government, which is supported by Saudi Arabia. Saudi experts say Iran’s actions in Syria and Yemen are an effort to create allies in the Middle East.
Jamal Khashoggi is a well-known Saudi journalist. He notes that there are Shi’ite militias 7 in Iraq. And Egypt is growing closer to Russia -- which also supports Syria. He says Iran is trying to control the Middle East in the same way that Germany tried to control Europe in World War II.
Hamad al-Shehri is an adviser 8 to the Saudi Minister of Foreign Affairs. He says Saudi Arabia believes its influence has declined over the past year as Iran has become more important.
As Iran negotiated an agreement to limit its nuclear program in exchange for an end to economic sanctions, it promised to be less militant 5.
Al-Sheri said Saudis were unhappy that during the negotiations 9, Western nations did not demand that Iran end its actions in Syria, Yemen and other conflicts in the area.
“The United States are our allies,” he said. “We wanted them to send a clear message to the Iranians to stop their interfering 10 and to stop supporting (the) smuggling 11 (of) weapons to those militias.”
He says Saudis are less worried about Iran building a nuclear weapon than about the threat of a war in the Middle East.
On Tuesday, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif called on Saudi Arabia to end what he called its “hostile policies” toward Iran. Saudis say Iran must change its policies before relations can improve.
One Saudi expert says “good relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran…is good for the Muslim world. It is good for the Arab world.”
Words in This Story
psychological – adj. of or relating to the mind
sect 2 – n. a religious group that is a smaller part of a larger group and whose members all share similar beliefs; a religious or political group that is connected to a larger group but that has beliefs that differ greatly from those of the main group
smuggle 12 – v. to move (someone or something) from one country into another illegally and secretly
- When he was sixteen he joined a religious sect.他16岁的时候加入了一个宗教教派。
- Each religious sect in the town had its own church.该城每一个宗教教派都有自己的教堂。
- Members of these sects are ruthlessly persecuted and suppressed. 这些教派的成员遭到了残酷的迫害和镇压。 来自《简明英汉词典》
- He had subdued the religious sects, cleaned up Saigon. 他压服了宗教派别,刷新了西贡的面貌。 来自辞典例句
- This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏,这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
- The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。
- Some militant leaders want to merge with white radicals.一些好斗的领导人要和白人中的激进派联合。
- He is a militant in the movement.他在那次运动中是个激进人物。
- The militants have been sporadically fighting the government for years. 几年来,反叛分子一直对政府实施零星的战斗。
- Despite the onslaught, Palestinian militants managed to fire off rockets. 尽管如此,巴勒斯坦的激进分子仍然发射导弹。
- The troops will not attempt to disarm the warring militias. 部队并不打算解除战斗中的民兵武装。 来自辞典例句
- The neighborhood was a battleground for Shiite and Sunni militias. 那里曾是什叶派和逊尼派武装分子的战场。 来自互联网
- They employed me as an adviser.他们聘请我当顾问。
- Our department has engaged a foreign teacher as phonetic adviser.我们系已经聘请了一位外籍老师作为语音顾问。
- negotiations for a durable peace 为持久和平而进行的谈判
- Negotiations have failed to establish any middle ground. 谈判未能达成任何妥协。
- Some claimed that the docker's union fronted for the smuggling ring.某些人声称码头工人工会是走私集团的掩护所。
- The evidence pointed to the existence of an international smuggling network.证据表明很可能有一个国际走私网络存在。