Poll: Many US adults fear war with Iran 'in years'

Half of adults in the United States believe that the country will go to war with Iran "within the next few years", according to a Reuters/Ipsos public opinion poll released on Tuesday amid increased tensions between the two countries, Reuters reported.

While they are now more concerned about Iran as a security threat to the US than they were last year, few would be in favor of a pre-emptive attack on the Iranian military. But if Iran attacked US military forces first, four out of five believed the US should respond militarily in a full or limited way, the May 17-20 poll showed.

Historically tense relations between Washington and Teheran worsened in May after US President Donald Trump hardened his anti-Iran stance and restored all sanctions on Iranian oil exports following his decision a year ago to pull the country out of a 2015 nuclear accord with Teheran.

The US moved an aircraft carrier and forces to the Gulf region in response to intelligence that Iran may be plotting against US interests, an assertion Iran denies.

Nearly half - 49 percent - of all US people disapprove of how Republican Trump is handling relations with Iran, the poll found, with 31 percent saying they strongly disapprove. Overall, 39 percent approve of Trump's policy.

The survey showed 51 percent of adults felt that the US and Iran would go to war within the next few years, up 8 percentage points from a similar poll published in June. In this year's poll, Democrats and Republicans were both more likely to see Iran as a threat and to say war was likely.

Iran was characterized by 53 percent of adults in the US as either a "serious" or "imminent" threat, up 6 percentage points from a similar poll from last July.

Despite their concerns, 60 percent of US people said Washington should not conduct a preemptive attack on the Iranian military, while 12 percent of them advocate for striking first.

If Iran attacked, however, 79 percent said that the US military should retaliate: 40 percent favored a limited response with airstrikes while 39 percent favored a full invasion.

Both the US and Iran have said they do not want war, although there have been bellicose statements from both.

US Acting Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan said on Tuesday that Washington's actions so far had been deterring Iran rather than seeking a war, Xinhua News Agency reported.

Despite Trump's decision to withdraw, the poll showed 61 percent of the US public still supported the 2015 deal between Iran and world powers.

Trump has said he would like to negotiate with the Islamic Republic's leaders. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani rejected talks on Tuesday and has said "economic war" is being waged against Iran.

The Reuters/Ipsos poll was conducted online in English throughout the country. It gathered responses from 1,007 adults, including 377 Democrats and 313 Republicans, and has a credibility interval, a measure of precision, of 4 percentage points.

(China Daily 05/23/2019 page11)