美国财政部长斯科特·贝森特周日表示，随着冲突持续近八个月，他不确定这场与伊朗的战争将如何结束。“我不知道‘认输’在波斯语里怎么说，但他们最终肯定会认输。你知道的，他们正在崩溃。他们连士兵的军饷都发不出来了。而且，雷切尔，我不知道这场战争会如何收场。你永远不知道它会以何种方式结束，”贝森特在《福克斯与朋友周末》节目中接受福克斯新闻的雷切尔·坎波斯-达菲采访时谈及伊朗时说道。
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Sunday said he was unsure how the Iran war will end, with the eight-month mark of the conflict nearing. “I don't know what ‘crying uncle’ is in Farsi, but they're going to be crying uncle. You know, they are collapsing. They can't pay their soldiers. And Rachel, I don't know how this ends. You never know how this ends,” Bessent told Fox News’s Rachel Campos-Duffy on “Fox & Friends Weekend,” talking about Iran.
他补充道：“柏林墙就是某天突然倒塌的。我们不知道民众是否会起义，伊斯兰革命卫队（IRGC）是否会内讧，或者他们是否真的会幡然醒悟，想要达成一项放弃核计划的协议。”
“That — the Berlin Wall just came down one day. We don't know whether the people rise up, the IRGC [Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps] turn on each other, or they actually come to their senses and want to make a deal not to have a nuclear program,” he added.
贝森特的这番言论是在美伊战争即将持续八个月之际发表的。这场战争在美国民众中普遍不受欢迎，由于霍尔木兹海峡——波斯湾石油出口的关键航道——因冲突而关闭，美国能源成本随之飙升。战争及其连锁影响也成为今年中期选举的核心议题，民主党人借此猛烈抨击共和党人在冲突问题以及由此带来的能源成本上涨方面的表现。
Bessent’s comments come about two weeks before the war with Iran hits the eight-month mark. The war, which is broadly unpopular with the American public, has driven up energy costs in the U.S. as the Strait of Hormuz, a key waterway for oil exports from the Persian Gulf, has been closed amid the conflict. The war and its downstream effects have also become a central issue in this year’s midterms, with Democrats hammering Republicans over the conflict and the higher energy costs it has brought.
特朗普最初曾预测战争只会持续几周，但尽管国内政治压力巨大，他仍难以找到结束战争的出路。他最近表示，战争将在中期选举后不久结束，但并未具体说明将如何实现这一点。上周，他表示美国在中期选举前不会对伊朗发动新的空袭。
Trump initially predicted the war would last for a few weeks, but has struggled to find an off-ramp despite the political pain at home. He has recently said it will end soon after the midterms, but has remained vague on how that will happen. Last week, he said the U.S. would not launch new strikes with Iran before the midterms.
这场旷日持久的战争引发了人们对美国武器储备减少以及该地区友好国家承受沉重代价的日益担忧。周五，美国国防部将伊朗战争中阵亡的美军人员人数更新为21人。最近新增的两名非战斗死亡人员被纳入五角大楼的国防伤亡分析系统（DCAS），他们分别是陆军少校索夫利·达维厄斯和一名身份不明的海军水手。官方人士在周末告诉《国会山报》。
The prolonged war has spurred mounting concerns about diminished U.S. weapons stockpiles, and the steep cost to friendly countries in the region. On Friday, the Defense Department updated the number of American service members dead in the Iran war to 21. The two deaths, which did not happen in combat, recently added to the Pentagon's Defense Casualty Analysis System (DCAS) were Army Maj. Sorffly Davius and an unidentified Navy sailor, a U.S. official told The Hill over the weekend.