Iranians believe Israel won June war, blame Tehran for the fighting – poll

Two-thirds of Iranians want Tehran to stop calling for Israel’s destruction, with few backing Iran’s handling of the 12-day war in June, a new poll shows.

By David Rosenberg, World Israel News 

The vast majority of Iranians oppose their government’s calls for the destruction of Israel, a new poll shows, with a plurality saying Tehran, not Jerusalem, deserves the blame for the 12-day June war between the two countries.

The poll was conducted by the Group for Analyzing and Measuring Attitudes in Iran (GAMAAN), an independent group of Iranian expatriate researchers operating out of the Netherlands since 2018.

Conducted online from September 24 to 28, the survey polled 30,372 Iranians age 15 and older.

According to the results of the poll, published by GAMAAN on Wednesday, nearly half (44%) of Iranians blame their own government for the start of the 12-day war with Israel this June, while one-third blame Israel, with 16% blame both sides equally.

A majority (51%) say Israel was victorious in the war, while 16% said Iran emerged triumphant.

The most commonly expressed responses to the war were “anger at the Islamic Republic,” a sentiment shared by 42% of respondents, followed by “worry about the future,” which was expressed by 38%.

Just 30% said they felt “anger at Israel” during the war.

While most (73%) said they were upset by the deaths of civilians during the war, just 22% were perturbed by the destruction of Iranian nuclear facilities, and just 20% said they were bothered by the killing of Iranian military commanders.

Nearly two-thirds (63%) said the war was between Israel and the Iranian government, not the Iranian people, while 30% disagreed.

Only about a quarter (27%) of Iranians approved of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s handling of the war, while 58% said they disapproved.

An overwhelming majority (69%) of Iranians believe Tehran should stop advocating for the destruction of Israel, with just 20% backing calls for Israel’s destruction.

Most (62%) said Iran should engage in direct talks with the US to resolve the nuclear crisis, with 47% willing to forgo uranium enrichment to prevent a future war. Just over a third (36%) said Iran should continue enriching uranium.

Almost half (49%) oppose Iran’s nuclear weapons program, while 36% said Iran should pursue atomic weapons.

When asked to rank foreign countries and entities, Iranians gave the highest positive ratings to the United States, with 53% saying they viewed the US positively, compared to 37% who rated it negatively.

Israel had the second-highest positive rating, 39%, compared to a negative rating of 48%.

The European Union came in third with a 38% positive rating compared to a 46% negative rating. Less than a third (30%) view Saudi Arabia positively, while 49% have a negative view of the country.

Absolute majorities of Iranians had negative views of Turkey (53%), China (58%), the UK (65%), and Russia (68%).

A total of 57% of Iranians consider Israel’s war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip to be either “strongly” or “somewhat” criminal in nature, while 24% disagreed.