美国国家公共电台 NPR USS Boxer Used Electronic Jamming To Take Down Iranian Drone, Pentagon Sources Say

 

AILSA CHANG, HOST:

Iran announced today it has seized a British-flagged ship in the Strait of Hormuz - this after the White House announced that a U.S. warship¹ destroyed an Iranian drone yesterday. President Trump² had these tough words for Iran today.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: We hope for their sake they don't do anything foolish. If they do, they will pay a price like nobody's ever paid a price.

CHANG: Iran, for its part, denies that any of its drones were destroyed. For more on all of this, we're joined now by NPR's Tom Bowman at the Pentagon.

Hey, Tom.

TOM BOWMAN, BYLINE³: Hey there.

CHANG: OK, so let's just start with this Iranian drone destroyed, not destroyed. What is going on? What do we know so far?

BOWMAN: Well, U.S. officials are saying what was assessed to be an Iranian drone was destroyed by this electronic jamming device, this air defense⁴ system aboard the USS Boxer⁵ while it was in international waters in the Strait of Hormuz. And we're hearing from Pentagon officials that the drone, which I'm told was unarmed, was on an aggressive course toward the Boxer, coming within a thousand yards. The U.S. sent several warnings, and it kept coming.

Now, in the past, the U.S. says Iran has deployed⁶ drones that interfere⁷ with flight operations, sometimes at night. Also, some drones used by Iranian-backed Houthi rebels had been filled with explosives. So this was a safety concern, and the U.S. crew destroyed the drone.

Now, beyond that, the U.S. is now saying there was at least one Iranian helicopter heading toward the American ship, and the Boxer actually sent up one of its own helicopters to intercept⁸ it and essentially⁹ shoo it away. Also beyond that, some small Iranian fast boats were closing with the American ship. They were warned off.

CHANG: And it's correct that Iran is still denying that it has lost a drone.

BOWMAN: Right. Iran has said it did not lose a drone, said all were accounted for and suggested maybe the U.S. shot down one of its own drones. And everything is moving pretty quickly. Britain said Iran seized a British-flagged vessel¹⁰ in the Strait of Hormuz.

CHANG: Right.

BOWMAN: Now, the official Iranian news agency says as far as the British-flagged tanker¹¹, the ship had turned off its tracker, ignored several warnings by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards before being captured.

CHANG: There's a lot of moving parts here. How does the seizure¹² of the ship play into all of this about the drone?

BOWMAN: Well, it makes everything more tense not only with the U.S. and Iran but, of course, now Britain.

CHANG: Yeah.

BOWMAN: And the latest Iranian move may be retaliation¹³ because the British seized an Iranian ship in the Mediterranean¹⁴ two weeks ago. There were indications it was smuggling¹⁵ oil to Syria. Now, the crew of that ship is still being held in Gibraltar. Meanwhile, the U.S. is trying to set up a maritime¹⁶ security force that would protect ships in the Persian Gulf¹⁷ and nearby waterways. The U.S. would provide, I'm told, overall command and control. Other nations would provide either patrol or maybe escort ships in the area. Pentagon and State officials are actually working on this today. And right now we have no sense yet of what countries will take part.

CHANG: Can you just take a moment here to just step back and explain what set off this latest round of tensions between the U.S. and Iran?

BOWMAN: Well, it really all started well over a year ago, when the Trump administration pulled out of the Iranian nuclear deal and reimposed stiff sanctions on Iran. Some Pentagon officials had spoken in favor of the deal, including then-Defense Secretary Jim Mattis. He and others believed it kind of kept a lid on Iran. And since then, there's been a real concern at the Pentagon that the more hawkish¹⁸ voices in the White House - national security adviser¹⁹ John Bolton, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo - they could lead to serious military action with Iran, which they say would be disastrous²⁰. So now we have some military action, but Secretary Pompeo said just today the president is willing to sit down and talk with Iran with no preconditions.

CHANG: That's NPR's Tom Bowman from the Pentagon.

Thank you, Tom.

BOWMAN: You're welcome.

1 warship   

n.军舰，战舰

参考例句：

• He is serving on a warship in the Pacific.他在太平洋海域的一艘军舰上服役。
• The warship was making towards the pier.军舰正驶向码头。

2 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

5 boxer   

n.制箱者，拳击手

参考例句：

• The boxer gave his opponent a punch on the nose.这个拳击手朝他对手的鼻子上猛击一拳。
• He moved lightly on his toes like a boxer.他像拳击手一样踮着脚轻盈移动。

6 deployed   

（尤指军事行动）使展开( deploy的过去式和过去分词 )； 施展； 部署； 有效地利用

参考例句：

• Tanks have been deployed all along the front line. 沿整个前线已部署了坦克。
• The artillery was deployed to bear on the fort. 火炮是对着那个碉堡部署的。

7 interfere   

v.(in)干涉，干预；(with)妨碍，打扰

参考例句：

• If we interfere, it may do more harm than good.如果我们干预的话，可能弊多利少。
• When others interfere in the affair,it always makes troubles. 别人一卷入这一事件，棘手的事情就来了。

8 intercept   

vt.拦截，截住，截击

参考例句：

• His letter was intercepted by the Secret Service.他的信被特工处截获了。
• Gunmen intercepted him on his way to the airport.持枪歹徒在他去机场的路上截击了他。

9 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

10 vessel   

n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管

参考例句：

• The vessel is fully loaded with cargo for Shanghai.这艘船满载货物驶往上海。
• You should put the water into a vessel.你应该把水装入容器中。

11 tanker   

n.油轮

参考例句：

• The tanker took on 200,000 barrels of crude oil.油轮装载了二十万桶原油。
• Heavy seas had pounded the tanker into three parts.汹涌的巨浪把油轮撞成三载。

12 seizure   

n.没收；占有；抵押

参考例句：

• The seizure of contraband is made by customs.那些走私品是被海关没收的。
• The courts ordered the seizure of all her property.法院下令查封她所有的财产。

13 retaliation   

n.报复，反击

参考例句：

• retaliation against UN workers 对联合国工作人员的报复
• He never said a single word in retaliation. 他从未说过一句反击的话。 来自《简明英汉词典》

14 Mediterranean   

adj.地中海的；地中海沿岸的

参考例句：

• The houses are Mediterranean in character.这些房子都属地中海风格。
• Gibraltar is the key to the Mediterranean.直布罗陀是地中海的要冲。

15 smuggling   

n.走私

参考例句：

• 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。

16 maritime   

adj.海的，海事的，航海的，近海的，沿海的

参考例句：

• Many maritime people are fishermen.许多居于海滨的人是渔夫。
• The temperature change in winter is less in maritime areas.冬季沿海的温差较小。

17 gulf   

n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂

参考例句：

• The gulf between the two leaders cannot be bridged.两位领导人之间的鸿沟难以跨越。
• There is a gulf between the two cities.这两座城市间有个海湾。

18 hawkish   

adj. 鹰派的, 强硬派的

参考例句：

• My staff's advice that first day was amazingly hawkish. 在第一天，我的僚属们的意见是令人吃惊的鹰派意见。
• Antiwar groups fear Barack Obama may create hawkish Cabinet. 反战团体担心巴拉克·奥巴马可以创建强硬派内阁。

19 adviser   

n.劝告者，顾问

参考例句：

• 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。

20 disastrous   

adj.灾难性的，造成灾害的；极坏的，很糟的

参考例句：

• The heavy rainstorm caused a disastrous flood.暴雨成灾。
• Her investment had disastrous consequences.She lost everything she owned.她的投资结果很惨，血本无归。