A majority of Americans back the Trump administration’s decision to take out Iran’s Quds Force Commander Qassem Soleimani earlier this month, according to a new poll.
Fifty-three percent of Americans support the administration’s actions to conduct the strike and 41 percent oppose the move, a Washington Post-ABC News poll released Tuesday found.
Even so, 48 percent of Americans claim that the decision raises the chances of terrorism against U.S. citizens and 46 percent believe there is a greater likelihood of a war with Tehran.
Overall, 45 percent reported they approve of how President Donald Trump navigated the confrontation with Iran, while 47 percent disapprove of his actions, the poll reports.
The poll comes shortly after The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research released their own report that found 41 percent of Americans approved of the strike while 30 percent disapproved.
After Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces and its supporters attacked the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad on Dec. 31, 2019, the U.S. conducted a drone strike that killed Soleimani on Jan. 3, 2020. The move prompted Iran to launch more than a dozen ballistic missiles targeting coalition bases in Iraq, including al-Asad airbase.
Although the Pentagon initially reported there were no “casualties” after Iran’s attack, Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman announced Friday that more than 30 U.S. troops have been diagnosed with traumatic brain injuries.
“A lot of these symptoms, they are late developing,” Hoffman said. “They manifest over a period of time.”
Service members were screened following the attack, but symptoms such as headaches, dizziness, sensitivity to light persisted in the weeks following. Hoffman said eight troops have been transported back to the U.S. to receive treatment at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland or at base hospitals where they are stationed.
More than 408,000 cases of traumatic brain injuries in service members have been reported since 2000.
The U.S. has approximately 5,000 U.S. troops in Iraq, including about 1,000 based out of al-Asad airbase.
The Post-ABC poll was conducted last week from Jan. 20-23 via phone with a sample size of 1,004 adults, and a margin of error is plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.
