Less than a quarter of Americans want Iran war: poll

WASHINGTON

Fewer than a quarter of American voters want the U.S. to go to war with Iran, according to a new poll released Monday.

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

In all, 58% of those who participated in the poll said they want Trump to adopt a non-military response to Iran's downing of a U.S. surveillance drone last week.

Roughly 20% said they are unsure what the U.S. 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% saying they wanted either military strikes or a declared war. Only 16% of Democrats and 27% of Independent voters wanted the same.

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 U.S. 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.

Tensions have been rising between the U.S. 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 U.S. 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 destabilizing.

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