Public backlash to President Donald Trump’s Iran war is exploding as he is reported to be plotting to use thousands of American service members to conduct ground operations in the region.
The 79-year-old president has deployed about 10,000 ground troops to the Middle East. According to The Washington Post, the Pentagon is gearing up for weeks of ground operations in the region, with potential plans including seizing Iran’s oil production to put pressure on the regime. He’s also reported to be considering troop reinforcements.
Just 14 percent of Americans support sending U.S. troops to Iran, 62 percent are opposed to the move, and 24 percent of respondents haven’t made up their minds, according to an Economist-YouGov poll conducted Friday through Monday among 1,679 U.S. adults.
The same poll shows that the war, which has killed thousands and sparked an energy crisis, is becoming more unpopular as it continues.
The Economist-YouGov poll found that 28 percent of Americans strongly or somewhat support the war with Iran, while 59 percent oppose it, for a net support of -30. That marks a decline from net support of -23 in an Economist-YouGov poll conducted from March 13 through 16.
Separate polling by Ipsos, conducted Friday through Sunday, and AP-NORC, conducted March 19 through 23, also showed opposition outpacing support by more than 4 to 1, according to reporting by the Post.
The growing backlash to the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, launched by Trump on Feb. 28, comes as the casualty count among the U.S. military grows. So far, 13 service members have been killed, and more than 300 have been injured.
Oil prices have soared more than 50 percent since the war began, after Iran effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz, a critical global shipping route through which about a fifth of the world’s oil supplies normally flow.
Kick-starting ground operations in Iran would “mark a new phase of the war that could be significantly more dangerous to U.S. troops than the first four weeks,” the Post reported on Sunday, citing U.S. officials.
In a statement to the Daily Beast, White House spokesperson Davis Ingle said: “What matters most to the American people is having a Commander-in-Chief who takes decisive action to eliminate threats and keep them safe.”
“President Trump campaigned proudly on his promise to deny the Iranian regime the ability to develop a nuclear weapon, which is what this noble operation is seeking to accomplish. The President does not make these incredibly important national security decisions based on fluid opinion polls, but on the best interest of the American people,” Ingle added.
The Trump administration has offered conflicting explanations for launching strikes on Iran and has made contradictory statements about ending and escalating the conflict.
The president is set to address the nation Wednesday evening with “an important update” on the conflict, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt announced on Tuesday.
Earlier on Tuesday, the president told reporters, “We’ll be leaving very soon,” adding that it could be “within two weeks, maybe two weeks, maybe three.”
At the same time, the White House has warned that Trump is “prepared to unleash hell” against Tehran if it doesn’t “understand that they have been defeated militarily and will continue to be.”
“Trump will ensure they are hit harder than they have ever been hit before,” Leavitt warned in remarks to reporters last week.
