Relations between the United States and Iran have been officially non-existent since a group of radical students stormed the US embassy in Teheran – 25 years ago this week – taking sixty six Americans hostage for 444 days. Sixty years ago, Arak was a humble village known to US troops for its grapes; today Pentagon officials hone in on it as an industrial city that is integral to Iran’s worrisome nuclear program.
这以后的变化太大了。1979年的伊朗革命废除了亲美主义、推翻了伊朗国王的不民主统治，并以反美主义和教士的不民主统治取而代之。25年前，就在这个星期，一些激进的学生袭击了驻德黑兰的美国使馆，把66个美国人扣为人质，关押了444天后，美伊之间的正式关系就几乎不复存在了。60年前，美国士兵眼中的阿拉克不过是个盛产葡萄小村庄，而今天，它在五角大楼官员的眼里却是一座工业城市，与伊朗令人不安的核计划息息相关。