Only a quarter of Americans believe President Donald Trump’s war with Iran was worth the cost, a new poll has found.
The war cost the Pentagon around $40 billion, the Center for Strategic and International Studies has estimated. But where Americans really felt the burden of the war was at the gas pump.
After the US, along with Israel, began launching strikes against Iran at the end of February, Tehran retaliated by effectively closing the Strait of Hormuz. With ships being unable to pass through the key oil waterway, fuel prices skyrocketed.
Only 24 percent of Americans said the war was worth the cost in a new Reuters/Ipsos poll. Half of those respondents said the war was not worth it, and the rest were unsure.
The annual rate of inflation increased 4.2 percent in May, the highest since 2023. The rise in the cost of living was mainly driven by high energy prices brought on by the Iran war.
Gasoline was up 40.5 percent in May from the same time a year before, according to the Consumer Price Index, which the government uses to track the cost of goods and services over time.
As the war appears to wind down, the average price of a gallon of regular gas in the US has dropped from more than $4.50 to $3.93, according to the AAA motor club.
But it’s still significantly higher than at the start of the war, when a gallon of gas cost an average of $2.98, according to the Associated Press.
Trump signed an interim peace deal with Iran last Wednesday while in France with world leaders for the Group of Seven summit.
The deal opened the Strait of Hormuz and ended the US naval blockade of Iranian ports imposed during the war, while Washington and Tehran work toward lasting peace.
But most Americans aren’t convinced the two countries will reach a permanent agreement.
About 63 percent of respondents in the Reuters survey said it is unlikely that the interim deal will lead to lasting peace.
Even Trump’s own party is skeptical. Roughly half of Republicans in the poll said a permanent end to hostilities was unlikely.
Trump’s approval rating on how he’s handling the cost of living was at a staggering 22 percent in the poll.
Reuters noted that the 22 percent rating was near the lowest level of Trump’s presidency and below that of former Democratic President Joe Biden, whom Trump often blames for today’s economic challenges, at the end of his term.
