‘Is Israel deciding when we go to war?’ Americans question who this conflict really serves

TEHRAN (MNTV) – As the joint U.S.-Israel military campaign that killed Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei enters its second week with no end in sight, a growing number of Americans — and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle — are asking whether the war with Iran belongs to the United States or to Israel.

The campaign has already claimed hundreds of lives, including at least six U.S. service members, and shows signs of becoming a protracted conflict.

U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson said Monday, following a classified briefing, that the White House believed Israel was determined to act unilaterally, leaving President Trump with “a very difficult decision” over whether to join the assault.

That rationale — that Washington moved because Tel Aviv would not wait — cuts directly against Trump’s election promise of “America First” policies and his campaign against Washington’s “forever wars,” and has reinforced a narrative that the United States is being pulled into battle by an ally with its own strategic priorities.

“Are we now such an enfeebled nation that Israel decides when we go to war?” asked Senator Jeff Merkley, after the Trump administration and its allies in Congress presented the shifting justification on Monday.

Inside Congress, frustration has mounted over what lawmakers describe as a changing and Israel-centered explanation for the strikes. Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, said there was “no imminent threat to the United States of America by the Iranians” and that the danger cited by the administration was aimed “at Israel,” not at American soil.

Warner said he has now heard “four or five” different explanations for the attack and demanded that Trump “come before Congress, and for that matter, the American people,” to lay out both the case for war and an exit plan.

Trump and his Republican allies insist the operation will not become another open-ended deployment. White House adviser Pete Hegseth vowed this is not an “endless war,” even as he warned that more American casualties are likely in the weeks ahead.

One in four Americans approve of strikes on Iran

A recent Reuters/Ipsos poll found that only one in four Americans approve of U.S. strikes on Iran, while about half — including one in four Republicans — believe Trump is too willing to use military force.

Some 27% of respondents said they approved of the strikes, while 43% disapproved and 29% were not sure. The poll, which closed Sunday, also showed that 56% of Americans think Trump is too willing to use military force to advance US interests — a view held by 87% of Democrats, 23% of Republicans and 60% of independents.

Majorities have told Ipsos survey-takers that they prefer diplomacy over military action with Iran and fear another long, costly conflict in the Middle East, with many expressing concern that the war will drain resources from domestic priorities including inflation, jobs, healthcare and border security — the very issues that anchored Trump’s original “America First” pitch.

That wariness is now shaping public reaction and fueling a sense that “America First” has given way to “Israel first” in practice — a perception that worries some analysts even in Israel. “

A large part of the American public will view it as the Israeli tail wagging the American dog and that it is dragging the United States to a war in the Middle East that isn’t theirs,” said Ofer Shelah, a research fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv, warning that any resulting drop in U.S. public support “will be very harmful for Israel in the medium and long term.”

Shelah added that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has long cultivated his image as Israel’s indispensable bridge to Washington, is not necessarily focused on those longer-term risks.

For Netanyahu, persuading Trump to strike Iran in tandem is described as the culmination of decades of close alignment with Republican administrations.

The clash is also testing the constitutional balance of war powers in Washington. Unlike the run-up to the Iraq War in 2003, which included lengthy congressional debate following the September 11 attacks, Operation Epic Fury is already well underway with no foreseeable end in sight.

“He is not trying to make his case to Congress or the American people. He unilaterally decided to do this,” said Rep. Adam Smith, the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee. Johnson, for his part, said tying Trump’s hands right now would be “frightening” as he works to defeat a war powers resolution.