Majority of Americans oppose sending US troops to defend Israel against Iran: Poll

The poll was conducted between June 21 and July 1.

Among Democrats and independents, the percentage of those opposing the move was higher.

But a slim majority of Republicans (53 percent) said they would favour US forces defending Israel in this scenario.

The poll also found that while the majority of the American public opposed sending US soldiers to defend Israel, most of them favoured soldiers taking part in a peacekeeping force in Israel and Palestine.

Some 54 percent favoured the deployment of US troops to enforce a peace agreement between the Israelis and Palestinians, with 62 percent of Democrats saying they agreed with such a decision. About 51 percent of Independents and 48 percent of Republicans also said they favoured such a move.

Washington has moved the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group to the Middle East, along with additional ballistic missile defense-capable cruisers and destroyers and a fighter squadron, to prepare for any Iranian and Hezbollah attack.

It comes as the US and Israel are bracing for an Iranian attack. Iran has blamed Israel for the assassination of top Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh while he was in Tehran last week, and Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei has vowed revenge. Israel has not claimed responsibility for the attack, though it rarely acknowledges covert operations in countries it is not at direct war with.

Israel last week also claimed responsibility for a strike against the top Hezbollah military leader, Fuad Shukr, who was the right-hand man to the Lebanese group’s leader, Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah.