Trump: Americans Are Not Against the War With Iran

President Trump told reporters Wednesday that “Americans aren’t against” the US war with Iran, arguing that public concerns are about gas prices rather than the military campaign itself. The comments came on the tarmac before he departed for a dignified transfer at Dover Air Force Base for service members killed in the conflict.

The remarks land against a backdrop of softening public support, renewed strikes, and rising energy risk tied to the Strait of Hormuz.

What Trump said

“Americans aren’t against the war. A poll just came out: Americans don’t want high gasoline prices, but they’re not against the war. That just came out loud and clear in a poll,” Trump told reporters at Andrews Air Force Base.

The US president also threatened to launch new strikes against Iran. “They’re going to pay a big price,” he said, without providing further details.

The polling tells a different story

Trump did not directly mention any specific survey, but his remarks came despite a Washington Post-Ipsos survey released last week showing that 68 per cent of Americans said the war was not worth fighting, while 28 per cent said it was.

CNN noted that the 40-point negative margin was larger than public opposition recorded for either the Iraq or Afghanistan wars in Washington Post-ABC News polling. Even within his own base, a little more than one-third of self-identified MAGA respondents to a Politico poll published Wednesday said they supported the Iran war, down 13 percentage points from May.

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Strait of Hormuz risk is now the market story

A senior Iranian official has warned Tehran will consider striking infrastructure and bridges across the region, after Trump threatened to destroy one bridge or power plant every time Iran targets a ship in the Strait of Hormuz. “If the Americans target an Iranian bridge or power plant, Iran will respond by striking infrastructure and bridges across the region, including energy facilities in which the United States has interests,” the unnamed official was reported as saying by the Iranian semi-official news agency, Tasnim.

Any escalation around Hormuz shipping traffic feeds directly into crude, tanker rates, and defense demand, which is where traders should focus.

Casualties and escalation path

Trump landed at Dover Air Force Base, where he was set to attend the dignified transfer of the four US service members who were recently killed in the Iran war. The president will meet privately with the families of the fallen service members before the dignified transfer, according to a White House official. This is the third dignified transfer Trump has attended since the war began.

Trump on Wednesday repeated that he would not allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon and promised to release the results of an investigation into the Iranian strike on the Jordanian air base that killed three US service members last week.

Options market and stocks to watch

The war-versus-gas-prices framing puts a familiar basket in play. Watch for:

XOM and CVX: watch for crude sensitivity if Hormuz shipping is disrupted, given the direct threat to tanker traffic and energy infrastructure.

USO: watch for flow tied to spot crude moves on any tit-for-tat strike headlines.

LMT and RTX: watch for defense bid on continued escalation talk, munitions replenishment, and follow-on Middle East deployments.

SPY: watch for broader risk tone as gas price sensitivity feeds into consumer and macro data. More coverage on Unusual Whales news.

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