特朗普总统并未因有说法称冲突导致共和党在上周中期选举中惨败，而放弃对伊朗的施压行动。
President Donald Trump isn't backing off his pressure campaign against Iran despite claims the conflict contributed to sweeping Republican losses in last week's midterm elections.
事实上，特朗普正在加大力度，扩大美国切断德黑兰在战争中重建军力时日益依赖的贸易路线的努力。
In fact, Trump is doubling down by expanding U.S. efforts to choke off the trade routes Tehran increasingly relies on as it tries to rebuild its military in the midst of war.
这项名为“铁门特遣队”的新行动，瞄准的是尽管美国实施海上封锁，但仍然存在的一个漏洞：伊朗可以利用陆路和里海航线运入货物、两用技术和军事物资，而这些路线超出了美国军舰的打击范围。
The new effort, dubbed Task Force Iron Gate, takes aim at a vulnerability that has persisted despite the U.S. naval blockade: the land and Caspian Sea routes Iran can use to bring in goods, dual-use technology and military supplies beyond the reach of American warships.
一位专家称，这一做法符合特朗普政府更广泛的战略，即在不重启全面军事行动的前提下，加紧对德黑兰的施压。与此同时，其他人则警告说，这可能导致局势升级，而不是立即实现外交突破。
That approach, one expert claims, fits into a broader administration strategy of tightening the squeeze on Tehran while stopping short of restarting full-scale military operations. Meanwhile, others caution that it could produce escalation rather than an immediate diplomatic breakthrough.
“我们刚刚启动了铁门行动。这意味着陆路什么也进不来，”特朗普周日表示。
"We have Operation Iron Gate that just went into effect. That means nothing comes in by land," Trump said Sunday.
但设在坦帕美国中央司令部总部、约有20人组成的特遣队，采取的方式比特朗普的概括性描述所暗示的要低调得多。
But the roughly 20-person task force established at U.S. Central Command headquarters in Tampa is taking a quieter approach than Trump’s sweeping description might suggest.
“这是一个不可部署的特种作战特遣队，”华盛顿近东政策研究所高级研究员法尔津·纳迪米在接受福克斯新闻数字版采访时表示，他将铁门描述为一个协调军事、民事和情报工作的“融合中心”。
"This is not a deployable special operation task force," Farzin Nadimi, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, told Fox News Digital, describing Iron Gate instead as a "fusion cell" coordinating military, civilian and intelligence efforts.
纳迪米表示，其当前的作用可能集中在收集伊朗边境活动的情报，以及在地区内建立合作，以支持制裁和其他切断货物流动的努力。
Nadimi said its immediate role is likely to center on gathering intelligence about activity along Iran’s borders and building cooperation in the region that could support sanctions and other efforts to disrupt the flow of goods.
负责牵头推进政府外交议程的国务卿马尔科·鲁比奥支持采取可能降低军事升级风险的行动。
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who heads the department responsible for spearheading the administration's diplomatic foreign agenda, supports taking action that could decrease military escalation.
“如果我们能通过经济手段和经济压力实现同样的目标，就不需要进行军事打击，”鲁比奥周二对记者说。
"We don't need to conduct military strikes if we're achieving the same objective through economic means and economic pressure," Rubio told reporters on Tuesday.
他否认美国和伊朗陷入僵局的说法，认为制裁、海上封锁和其他措施正在稳步削弱德黑兰。
He rejected the suggestion that the U.S. and Iran were at a stalemate, arguing that sanctions, the naval blockade and other measures were steadily weakening Tehran.
“他们在流血。他们在经济上流血，”鲁比奥说。“对伊朗的压力在不断加大，并且每天都在增长。”此举是在一周后的一次选举之后推进的，战争在那次选举中对共和党人来说是政治负担。
"They’re bleeding. They’re bleeding economically," Rubio said. "It is an increased pressure on Iran that continues to grow every day." The push comes a week after an election in which the war proved a political liability for Republicans.
根据福克斯新闻选民民调，伊朗战争是34%选民投票给众议院的关键因素，而大约十分之六的人表示，美国对伊朗采取军事行动的决定是错误的。
The Iran war was a crucial factor in the House vote for 34% of voters, according to the Fox News Voter Poll, while about six in 10 said the U.S. had made the wrong decision to take military action against Iran.
另一项福克斯新闻/NORC调查在选举日左右进行，发现68%的人表示避免在伊朗发生长期军事冲突非常重要。当被迫做出选择时，61%的人表示结束美国军事介入以降低油价比重启军事行动阻止伊朗发展核武器更重要，而35%的人选择重启军事行动。
A separate Fox News/NORC survey conducted around Election Day found 68% said avoiding a prolonged military conflict in Iran was very important. When forced to choose, 61% said ending U.S. military involvement to lower gas prices was more important than restarting military action to stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons, while 35% chose restarting military action.
然而，选举后四天，美国中央司令部宣布了“铁门”行动，将政府的压力运动扩展到德黑兰可用于抵消海上封锁影响的陆路路线。
Yet four days after the election, CENTCOM announced Iron Gate, extending the administration’s pressure campaign to the land routes Tehran could use to blunt the effects of the naval blockade.
美国中央司令部表示，该特遣部队将协调努力，破坏先进武器、两用技术、受制裁材料和非法收入跨越伊朗陆地边界和里海的流动。
CENTCOM said the task force would coordinate efforts to disrupt advanced weapons, dual-use technologies, sanctioned materials and illicit revenue moving across Iran’s land borders and the Caspian Sea.
“我们不会允许伊朗政权重建其武器工厂，或用跨境走私的材料补充其武库，”美国中央司令部司令布拉德·库珀海军上将在宣布该特遣部队时说。
"We will not allow the Iranian regime to rebuild its weapons factories or replenish its arsenal with materials smuggled across its borders," CENTCOM commander Adm. Brad Cooper said in announcing the task force.
美国中央司令部拒绝提供关于“铁门”行动将如何运作的更多细节，超出其公告之外。挑战在于涉及领土的巨大规模。
CENTCOM declined to provide additional details about how Iron Gate would operate beyond its announcement. The challenge is the sheer scale of the territory involved.
据纳迪米称，伊朗与阿富汗、亚美尼亚、阿塞拜疆、伊拉克、巴基斯坦、土耳其和土库曼斯坦接壤，陆地边境长约6000公里。尽管伊朗设有数十个正式边境口岸，货物仍可通过山地和沙漠地带走私。
Iran shares land borders with Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Iraq, Pakistan, Turkey and Turkmenistan, spanning roughly 6,000 kilometers, according to Nadimi. While it has dozens of official border crossings, goods can also be smuggled through mountainous and desert terrain.
“要了解物品如何以及从哪里进入或离开伊朗，将极其困难，”纳迪米说。“铁门”行动的成效很大程度上还将取决于伊朗以外的政府。
"It will be extremely difficult to know where and how things get in or out of Iran," Nadimi said. Much of Iron Gate’s effectiveness will also depend on governments outside Iran.
纳迪米表示，该特遣部队可以与邻国的军方和情报部门建立关系，以识别和破坏可疑货物运输。他说，土耳其和巴基斯坦已经对跨越与伊朗边境的货物设定了一些限制，导致卡车长时间排队，运输成本上升。
Nadimi said the task force could build relationships with military and intelligence services in neighboring countries to identify and disrupt suspicious shipments. Turkey and Pakistan have already placed some limits on goods moving across their borders with Iran, he said, contributing to long truck lines and higher shipping costs.
但即使邻国政府合作，伊朗和伊斯兰革命卫队也可能寻找绕过限制的方法。
But even if neighboring governments cooperate, Iran and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps are likely to look for ways around the restrictions.
民主防卫基金会伊朗问题项目高级主任贝纳姆·本·塔莱布卢表示，这项努力不应以华盛顿能否完全消除伊朗的陆路贸易来衡量。
Behnam Ben Taleblu, senior director of the Iran program at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said the effort should not be judged by whether Washington can completely eliminate Iran’s overland trade.
“这不会意味着一夜之间就让这项贸易归零，”塔莱布卢对福克斯新闻数字版说。他说，目标是提高货物运输成本，对促成伊朗贸易的外国公司和个人施加压力，并让华盛顿对德黑兰拥有更多筹码。“这实际上就像是在把伊朗共和国围困起来，”他说。随着伊朗通往外界的其他渠道日益狭窄，这些路线变得更加重要。
"That is not going to mean zeroing out this trade overnight," Taleblu told Fox News Digital. Instead, he said the goal is to increase the cost of moving goods, pressure the foreign companies and individuals facilitating Iranian trade and give Washington more leverage over Tehran. "This is literally akin to boxing in the Islamic Republic," he said. The routes have taken on added importance as Iran’s other avenues to the outside world have narrowed.
塔莱布卢表示，伊朗的导弹计划仍然依赖外国投入，包括燃料前体和高强度钢。他说，中国和俄罗斯对这些流动至关重要，但伊拉克、土耳其和巴基斯坦也代表着重要的区域路线。
Taleblu said Iran’s missile program remains dependent on foreign inputs including fuel precursors and high-strength steel. China and Russia are important to those flows, he said, but Iraq, Turkey and Pakistan also represent important regional routes.
纳迪米表示，有效限制伊朗的陆地贸易是一项“中长期项目”，并预测，随着压力增大，德黑兰最初将“变得更具侵略性”。塔莱布卢发出了类似的警告。
Nadimi described effectively restricting Iran’s land trade as a "mid- to long-term project" and predicted Tehran would initially "become more aggressive" as the pressure mounts. Taleblu issued a similar warning.
“完全有可能把他们逼得足够紧，让他们觉得摆脱窒息的唯一方式就是出拳，”他说。
"It is entirely plausible that you squeeze them hard enough that they feel like the only way to throw off the strangulation is to throw a punch," he said.
这使得政府在试图增强对伊朗的影响力的同时，避免重新点燃选民明确表示希望避免的全面战斗——而特朗普在公开场合用更为严厉的措辞描述了这一目标。“陆地上什么都进不来。”
That leaves the administration trying to increase its leverage over Iran without reigniting the full-scale fighting voters strongly signaled they wanted to avoid — while Trump has publicly described the objective in much starker terms. "Nothing comes in by land."