President Donald Trump's plans to strike Iranian nuclear facilities without putting troops on the ground have the backing of the American people.
A new poll from Rasmussen Reports found that a plurality of Americans favor a U.S. air or naval strike on Iran to destroy its nuclear program without putting troops on the ground and engaging in a military operation to force regime change in Tehran.
This poll is particularly relevant after the announcement from the White House on Saturday evening that the U.S. Air Force had conducted airstrikes on three Iranian nuclear sites, including the underground Fordow nuclear site.
Leading up to the strikes, the opinion of the American people has been fairly static, with strong support for military strikes but strong opposition to a ground war reminiscent of the Gulf War or the war in Afghanistan.
Trump appears to recognize this desire and is going to extreme lengths to decapitate the threat that Iran presents while avoiding a costly ground war that would risk American lives.
Israel is doing a majority of the heavy lifting, as they have thoroughly destroyed Iran's air forces and air defense equipment. Furthermore, Israel is using its air superiority to destroy Iran's ballistic missile capabilities.
As a result of Israel's dominance of Iran, American bombers faced little to no danger of being shot down, meaning there was little reason not to take advantage of the situation and destroy Iran's nuclear facilities after decades of sabre-rattling.
The Rasmussen Reports poll found that a plurality of Americans also support Israel's war against Iran, which is a fundamentalist Islamic state that sponsors terrorism in the Middle East.
If Iran had been allowed to acquire nuclear weapons, there was a high chance that Iran would allow their terrorist proxies to use such weapons, most likely against Israel.
The need to destroy Iran's nuclear research has existed for years, but it wasn't until Israel decapitated Iran's air capabilities that striking Iran's facilities became a safe bet.
Trump appears to have accomplished that goal by deploying B-2 bombers carrying advanced weapons designed to penetrate and destroy underground facilities. The next step for Trump will be resisting calls from war hawks and Israel to put boots on the ground and keep Americans happy.
While the U.S. gets to sit back and surgically destroy Iran's nuclear facilities, it remains Israel's war to topple the fundamentalist regime in Tehran. While the Trump administration will support Israel materially, Trump is committed to keeping U.S. troops out of harm's way.
The key priority for Trump is to avoid kicking off a decades-long war in the Middle East where American lives are sacrificed for fruitless nation-building.
Iran has a standing army and is a highly defensible region, meaning that a conventional war was never an option, but none of that will be necessary. All of this is great news and further cements Trump's masterful reputation in foreign policy.
