Sunday, March 8, 2026

Newsweek - Published Mar 05, 2026 at 10:50 AM EST updated Mar 06, 2026 at 10:36 AM EST - Donald Trump’s Approval Rating for Iran War Ahead by Double Digits: Poll

News Article

Donald Trump’s Approval Rating for Iran War Ahead by Double Digits: Poll

Published

Mar 05, 2026 at 10:50 AM EST

updated

Mar 06, 2026 at 10:36 AM EST

By Mandy Taheri

Politics and Culture Reporter

Newsweek is a Trust Project member

President Donald Trump holds a net approval rating of +13 points for his handling of the war with Iran, according to a new poll from the conservative-leaning Trafalgar Group.

Why It Matters

Public sentiment on the Iran war could play a large role in how Congress acts and how the White House moves forward as the U.S. approaches crucial midterm elections in November.

Traditionally, Americans have approved of war actions early in conflicts, but sentiment can change rapidly amid growing costs and unclear policies for a resolution.

The strikes in Iran last weekend have seen some early support from swing voters and the Trump's approval rating has largely held steady in the aftermath.

A missile launched from a U.S. Navy ship in support of Operation Epic Fury on February 28, 2026. | U.S. Central Command via AP

What To Know

U.S. and Israeli airstrikes in Iran, which started on Saturday, have killed upward of 1,000 people, according to the Iranian government. On Monday, the U.S. military said that six Americans had been killed in the war. As the death toll climbs, several U.S. embassies across the Middle East have urged Americans to leave immediately, warning they may be unable to assist those trying to flee. The strikes killed Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

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What People Are Saying

The White House, in a statement to Newsweek on Monday for a related article, said: "A majority of Americans support President Trump’s decisive action against a terrorist regime that has killed and maimed thousands of Americans for nearly 50 years under the evil hand of the Ayatollah. The President has always been clear that Iran, the world’s number one sponsor of terror, can never obtain a nuclear weapon, and his actions now will make America – and the world – a safer place."

Conservative commentator Tucker Carlson said on his podcast, The Tucker Carlson Show: “This is Israel’s war. This is not the United States’ war. This war is not being waged on behalf of American national security objectives to make the United States safer or richer."

President Donald Trump told journalist Rachael Bade: “MAGA wants to see our country thrive and be safe. And MAGA loves what I’m doing—every aspect of it."

Former Vice President Kamala Harris, a Democrat, condemned the strikes in a post on X: “Donald Trump is dragging the United States into a war the American people do not want. Let me be clear: I am opposed to a regime-change war in Iran, and our troops are being put in harm’s way for the sake of Trump’s war of choice.”

What Happens Next

The White House signaled the operation's timeline could extend beyond four to five weeks, depending on conditions, and defense leaders warned of likely additional U.S. casualties as Iran and its proxies respond.

Updated 3/6/2026 at 10:25 a.m. ET: This article was updated with additional information.

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The New Yorker Comment Where Is the Iran War Headed? President Trump has both called for Iranians to rise up and oust the ruthless theocracy and said that he’s fully prepared to deal with a new religious leader. By Robin Wright March 8, 2026

The New Yorker

Comment

Where Is the Iran War Headed?

President Trump has both called for Iranians to rise up and oust the ruthless theocracy and said that he’s fully prepared to deal with a new religious leader.

By Robin Wright

March 8, 2026

Trump speaking towards an explosion in Iran.

Photo illustration by Cristiana Couceiro; Source photographs from Getty

Listen

8 minutes

Since 1979, Iran’s revolutionary regime has been the nemesis of eight American Presidents. None could tame its political furies; its covert operations, which killed more than a thousand Americans in Lebanon, Iraq, and Afghanistan; or its expansion, through the creation of like-minded extremist movements, across the Middle East. The Islamic Republic considered its mini-realm a defensive buffer against U.S. and Israeli intervention. The U.S. and Israel viewed Iran as the most persistent threat in the world’s most volatile region. President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have now set out to destroy the regime, militarily and politically, in a reckless war of choice with no visible or thoughtful endgame—and, in Trump’s case, no advance approval by Congress or warning to American taxpayers.

For Operation Epic Fury, the Trump Administration has so far deployed nearly half the United States’ air power and roughly a third of its naval assets. The cost is nearly nine hundred million dollars a day, the Center for Strategic and International Studies estimated. Much like the initial “shock and awe” campaign during Operation Iraqi Freedom, in 2003, the first week of the war was militarily stunning. The Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and dozens of senior officials were killed. Iran’s arsenal of ballistic missiles was seriously depleted and its strategic installations left in rubble. Its navy was devastated; a U.S. submarine torpedoed an Iranian warship in the Indian Ocean, the first such strike since the Second World War. Pete Hegseth, the Secretary of Defense, boasted, “More and larger waves are coming. We are just getting started.” Iran’s capabilities, he added, are “evaporating.”

Trump, with his usual inconsistency, has called for Iranians to rise up against the ruthless theocracy—last week, he demanded its “unconditional surrender”—but also said that he’s prepared to deal with a new religious leader. Since 2017, millions of Iranians have participated in protests; tens of thousands have been killed. For now, though, an uprising seems unlikely. Iranians will first need to pick up the political and physical pieces of their lives, and although public fury at the government has not diminished, foreign military intervention has ignited a sense of millennia-old nationalism. The prospect of many members of the Iranian security forces—there are more than a million, counting reservists—joining a popular rebellion seems improbable, too.

The war has rattled the international order, troubled as it already was. After two disastrous U.S. wars, in Iraq and Afghanistan, there is an ominous sense of how messy and costly and deadly this one might get, however confident Trump sounds. Iran is larger, in size and in population, than Iraq and Afghanistan combined. It is arguably the most important geostrategic country in the three regions it borders—the Arab world; the formerly Soviet “stans” of Central Asia; and Afghanistan and nuclear-armed Pakistan, in South Asia. It has vast oil and gas reserves, along with the largest military in the Middle East, and it has had powerful sway in parts of the Muslim world, particularly among Shiites.

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Trump said that the biggest surprise to him has been the scope of Tehran’s response. Iran was clearly prepared, especially after the Twelve-Day War, last June, when the President ordered B-2 stealth warplanes to drop bunker-busting bombs on nuclear facilities in Fordo, Natanz, and Isfahan. This time, it countered with missile and drone strikes on seven oil-rich neighbors allied with the United States, from Iraq to Saudi Arabia and Oman. It targeted international airports, hotels, businesses, ports, and energy facilities. Despite American defensive superiority, Iran hit the U.S. Embassy in Riyadh; the consulate in Dubai; the largest U.S. military base in the Middle East, at Al Udeid, in Qatar; and the U.S. Fifth Fleet headquarters in Bahrain, which coördinates U.S. naval operations across the Middle East. Netanyahu said that he has been dreaming for forty years about overthrowing the theocracy, but Iranian missiles penetrated Israel’s Iron Dome defenses. Air sirens repeatedly alerted the residents of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem to seek shelter. Dozens of buildings, including a military airbase, were hit. Hezbollah, Iran’s longtime partner, opened a second front with Israel from Lebanon.

The scale of Iran’s retaliation has led U.S. allies, who had balked at joining a U.S.-led offensive, to reluctantly agree to play a role. France, Germany, and Britain pledged to “take steps to defend our interests and those of our allies in the region,” with Britain deploying warplanes in Qatar. Greece, following a drone strike on Cyprus, sent four fighter jets to the island. Italy promised defense systems to Gulf nations. By the end of the first week of war, seventeen countries were involved. After cutting direct military aid to Ukraine last year, Washington even reached out to Kyiv for its expertise in countering Iranian drones, which Russia uses to attack it.

Beyond the physical damage, Epic Fury has spooked the global economy. Stocks plunged, and the price of world’s oil and gas passes. Saudi Arabia temporarily shut its Ras Tanura oil refinery, one of the world’s largest, after a drone strike. Qatar suspended the production and export of liquefied natural gas.

Iran, then, still has some leverage. Hadi Semati, a former professor of political science at the University of Tehran, who is now in Washington, said, “If Iran comes out of this crisis alive, it has essentially won, albeit with degraded military capability.” And the theocracy may survive. Suzanne Maloney, an expert on Iran at the Brookings Institution, cautioned, “We’re going to be left with some kind of bloodied, battered rump version of the Islamic Republic, led by officials who are now even more determined to try to cling to power, and who are going to be more confident of the fact that they’re able to stay, because they have withstood this terrible crisis.”

Last week, as Iran’s Assembly of Experts met to elect a new Supreme Leader, Trump insisted that he should have the right of approval. He told Axios, “I have to be involved in the appointment, like with Delcy [Rodriguez] in Venezuela.” He rejected Khamenei’s hawkish son Mojtaba as “unacceptable.” (Trump, Maloney said, “seems to think that this is an episode of ‘The Apprentice.’ ”) But the Assembly may select a revolutionary hard-liner to signal continuity. Iran’s ninety-two million people, in the meantime, are trapped between bloody war and the bloody regime. ♦

Published in the print edition of the March 16, 2026, issue, with the headline “War-Torn.”

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The Greek Letter - 8 March 2026 - Greece looks to shield East Med. Constantine Capsaskis

Greece looks to shield East Med

[Reuters]

Constantine CapsaskisNewsletter Editor

Welcome to the weekly round-up of news by Kathimerini English Edition. As strikes against Iran continue, resulting in widespread instability in the region, Greece’s defense posture remains vigilant.

A drone attack on RAF Akrotiri on Cyprus, sovereign territory of the United Kingdom on the Mediterranean island, caused significant concern in both Nicosia and Athens, over fears that Cyprus would find itself embroiled in the war with Iran.

In response, Greece immediately took steps to contribute to the island’s defense. “These are difficult times for our wider region, but Greece wants to declare in the most categorical way – which involves both symbolism and substance – its intention to provide, as far as possible, within the framework of its forces and capabilities, whatever assistance it can to Cyprus and the Cypriot people”, said Defense Minister Nikos Dendias who travelled to the island to meet with Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides.

“Our attention is also turning to Cyprus, which is a pillar of Hellenism and lies closer to the war zone”, later said Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis in a parliamentary session, stressing that “our mission is defensive and peaceful”.

Two frigates were dispatched to the island, including the cutting edge FDI HN frigate Kimon which boasts significant anti-air capabilities, and four F-16 fighter jets. The jets, in particular, were involved in several sorties to intercept further possible drone strikes. Greece’s decision to reinforce the defense of Cyprus was then followed by several other European countries, including France, Spain, Italy, and the Netherlands, which also deployed naval assets.

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis will also travel to Cyprus on Monday where he will participate in a meeting with Christodoulides and French President Emmanuel Macron.

The leadership of the Hellenic Armed Forces also deployed a battery of Patriot surface-to-air missile defense system on the island of Karpathos, located between Crete and Rhodes, to increase Greece’s anti-air capabilities against potential threats from the region. A second Patriot battery was also moved to northern Greece to contribute to the defense of critical energy infrastructure in Bulgaria, particularly along its Black Sea coastline.

On Thursday, in response to this activity, the Turkish government released a statement raising the issue of the demilitarization of the islands of the eastern Aegean, without, however, referring directly to the Patriot battery on Karpathos. This was accompanied by eight airspace violations in the Aegean, widely interpreted as manifestations of Ankara’s irritation.Turkey is also reportedly considering the deployment of its own F-16 fighter jets on the Turkish-occupied northern part of the island.

“Greece’s defensive posture is non-negotiable. The state of war in our wider neighborhood requires the country to maintain the necessary defensive preparedness”, responded the Greek foreign ministry.

Greece has also repatriated hundreds of nationals from the region, with special flights from Saudi Arabia, Oman, and the United Arab Emirates.

Spotlight

The lower court ruling that the neo-Nazi party Golden Dawn operated as a criminal organization was upheld unanimously by the Court of Appeals this week. This means that the convictions of the party’s leadership and key members were upheld, while an additional 24 defendants were also convicted of membership in the criminal organization. “Solidarity, love and peace won,” said Magda Fyssa, the mother of anti-fascist rapper Pavlos Fyssas who was murdered in 2013 by Golden Dawn member Giorgos Roupakias, following the verdict. “Golden Dawn is a criminal organization. I leave with relief because I will not hear them again and I will not see them again in my life”, she added. Golden Dawn were also convicted for an attack against an Egyptian fisherman, for which five defendants were found guilty of attempted homicide. “The objective was to investigate and assign criminal responsibility to the organization’s leadership – to confirm what anti-fascist and anti-racist groups and migrant communities had been saying for decades: that these criminal acts were decided, directed and covered up by the leadership of Golden Dawn”, said one of the lawyers for the prosecution.

There was another surge in refugee and migrant crossings this week, with more than 1,000 arrivals from Libya on Crete and Gavdos in 48 hours. Greek authorities and the Hellenic Coast Guard, which participated in 15 separate rescue incidents in the waters south of Crete, note that this spike is not directly linked to the conflict in Iran. However, the security services have been placed on high alert for the potential infiltration of radicalized individuals among the arrivals, with Citizen Protection Minister Michalis Chrysochoidis noting that there are some suspects being monitored, adding that “what is truly a nightmare is whether orders from some source could trigger moves that would create major problems across Europe. What kills you is complacency”. Asylum processing for Iranian nationals has been halted, as has the issuance of travel documents to Iranian nationals. However, there is concern that, similar to the case of Syria, current developments in Iran could lead to another wave of refugees with the European Union Agency for Asylum warning that “even partial destabilization of Iran, a country with a population of 90 million, could cause refugee flows of unprecedented magnitude to Europe”.

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OPINION

Tom EllisEditor-in-Chief, Kathimerini English Edition

Mail-in voting for Greeks abroad

[InTime News]

It was long overdue. For a country with millions of expatriates – widely seen, and correctly so, as one of our major strengths – it was unacceptable that they were unable to vote in Greek elections.

The first step to ameliorate the situation was taken in 2024 when a process was established for them to participate in the European Parliament elections.

Last week we moved to the next step when the Greek Parliament narrowly approved legislation granting Greeks registered abroad the right to vote by mail in national elections.

The measure passed with between 201 and 207 votes (depending on the relative articles but in all cases above the 2/3 constitutional minimum needed for the law to be immediately implemented), hence, expats will vote in the upcoming elections that will be held by the spring of 2027.

A separate provision, creating a unified electoral constituency to elect three diaspora MPs, received only 162 votes, which means it cannot be implemented until later; in elections that take place at least 18 months after the upcoming one.

That was rather unfortunate as such a development – electing diaspora MPs in a specific electoral constituency (one could argue that a numerically larger one is more appropriate) – is consistent with the aim of politically empowering and further strengthening the diaspora’s ties to Greece.

Still, and despite failing to attain a cross-party agreement on the latter, it is heartening that a process bringing the Greeks abroad closer to their motherland is moving along.

CHART OF THE WEEK

Businesses in Greece seem hesitant to embark on any major investment drive necessary to cover the investment gap they will face in 2026, as they balance any optimism with a healthy dose of concern over the prevailing global geopolitical instability. This means that, in a survey conducted by Grant Thornton, only 5 in 10 businesses responded that they would be looking to invest in new technologies and just 4 in 10 would be looking to renew or replace equipment. This is even more apparent when looking at small and medium sized businesses, which are even less likely to invest in innovation. When it came to the issue of funding, only 5 in 10 companies stated that they would be looking for new sources of funding, out of which only 3 would be using these for investments, with 2 looking to cover current capital requirements.

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ECONOMY IN A NUTSHELL

“The Athens Exchange (ATHEX) general index closed at 2,122.60 points on Friday, down 6.81% from last week with the benchmark being adversely affected by the developments in Iran.”

“GrowthFund, Greece’s National Investment Fund, is in a difficult position to set, and adhere to, timetables for the utilization of state assets, particularly as its portfolio is spread across several distinct sectors and includes several particularly challenging assets such as struggling Hellenic Post.”

“Greek wine exports to several major markets, including Germany, France, the United States, and Canada, declined in 2025, often both in terms of value and quantity. Indicatively, the value of Greek wine exports decreased by 5.38% to Germany, 28.97% to France, and 13.86% to the United States.”

WHAT'S ON THE AGENDA

10/03/2026OPEKEPE: The findings of the Parliamentary Investigative Committee into the OPEKEPE agricultural community funds scandal will be debated in a House plenary session.
11/03/2026EU Defense Meeting: European Union Defense Ministers will travel to Nicosia on Cyprus for an informal meeting to discuss both the situation in Ukraine and the latest developments in the Middle East.
12/03/2026Energy: Parliament will vote on the contracts outlining the lease agreements between the Greek state and the Chevron-HelleniQ Energy consortium for exploration in four offshore areas near Crete and the Peloponnese.
12/03/2026Farmers: The delayed 31^st Agrotica Exposition being held in Thessaloniki next week will see farmers protesting the event, claiming that their demands remain unmet.