Poll: Less than 25% of Americans want Iran war

Fewer than a quarter of American voters want the US to go to war with Iran, according to a new poll released yesterday, as reported on Anadolu Agency. 

The Hill-HarrisX survey taken over the weekend indicates that just 19 per cent of respondents want US President Donald Trump to launch strikes against Iran while just 5 per cent want a formal declaration of war.

In all, 58 per cent of those who participated in the poll said they want Trump to adopt a non-military response to Iran’s downing of a US surveillance drone last week.

Roughly 20 per cent said they are unsure what the US response should be.

In terms of partisanship, the new poll suggests Republicans are only slightly more interested in a military confrontation with Iran with 31 per cent saying they wanted either military strikes or a declared war. Only 16 per cent of Democrats and 27 per cent of Independent voters wanted the same.

READ: US prods Iran for talks to ease Gulf tensions; Tehran dismisses sanctions threat

Over two-thirds of Democrats want the president to pursue a peaceful response to the drone’s downing.

Trump earlier Monday sanctioned a host of Iranian officials, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and his office amid bristling tensions.

In addition to Khamenei, the US sanctioned eight senior leaders of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, including the commanders of its air force and ground forces, and five naval district leaders.

And Trump further instructed that Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif be sanctioned later this week, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said.

Iran: ‘We warned US aircraft before shooting it down’

Tensions have been rising between the US and Iran since May 2018, when Washington unilaterally withdrew from a landmark 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany and the EU.

The US has since embarked upon a diplomatic and economic campaign to put pressure on Iran in order to renegotiate the agreement, as well as other Iranian activities Washington considers to be destabilising.

As part of its campaign, the US has reimposed sanctions on exports of Iranian crude oil, which have nosedived the Iranian economy.