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Six months, rising costs
Six months into the U.S.-Iran conflict, Reuters said the war Trump described as a “short trip” has become a crisis that threatens to undermine his presidency, with Iran not yielding and the navigation through the Strait of Hormuz “highly disrupted.”
“war described by President Donald Trump as a “short trip” has become a crisis”
The Reuters/Ipsos poll cited in the Reuters report said Trump’s approval rating fell from 40% to 33% since the conflict began, as rising gasoline prices undercut his 2024 campaign promise to lower costs for Americans.
In the U.S., ABC News reported that the war began on Feb. 28 when the U.S. and Israel launched strikes that took out much of Iran’s leadership and damaged key Iranian military sites, and it said Trump predicted the war would last four to five weeks.
ABC News also said the conflict has killed 18 U.S. service members and wounded more than 750, while global oil prices are up about 25% and the average gallon of gas nationwide hovers over $4.
The same ABC News report said the latest estimate for the cost of the war is more than $37.5 billion and that the Defense Department is asking Congress for an additional $67.1 billion for
Evacuations and doubts
As the conflict entered its sixth month, WHAM in Rochester, N.Y. aired accounts from people evacuated from the Middle East, including Tommy Mach, a Fairport resident and retired Marine, who said he was in Abu Dhabi on a business trip when “things suddenly became serious.”
Mach told WHAM that he was frustrated that the war was still ongoing and said, “I hope that it ends quickly,” adding, “I hope that we can bring our troops back.”
In the same WHAM segment, local business owner Pouya Seifzadeh, who is Iranian, Canadian, and American, said, “This is not a regime that you can trust,” and argued that Iran has been pursuing nuclear weapons from the 1990s.
Reuters also framed the political and economic stakes for the U.S. by saying the war shook the global economy through a sharp rise in oil prices and raised concerns about a global recession.
The Reuters report further said the readiness of the U.S. military declined, noting that the American military lost drones and aircraft due to Iranian strikes and other incidents, and it cited a May Congressional Research Service report stating that 42 U.S. military aircraft were lost in the conflict.
New strikes and retaliation
In late August, ABC News reported that a U.S. strike on Larek Island in the Strait of Hormuz left at least two dead and two more injured, citing Tasnim for the initial casualty reporting and the Revolutionary Guard for confirming “martyrs and wounded.”
“there are “martyrs and wounded” among its fighters”
ABC News said the Revolutionary Guard denounced the attack as “Desperation over their domestic problems” and warned that there will be “punishment,” while it also quoted a Revolutionary Guard spokesperson, Sardar Mohebi, reiterating “consequences” both economically and militarily.
The same ABC News report said Qatar’s Al Jazeera television cited an anonymous American official saying the United States attacked two Revolutionary Guard rocket launchers on Larek that were being prepared to deploy naval mines in the Strait of Hormuz.
ABC News also reported that the United States Central Command (CENTCOM) had not provided official information about what happened, but it said CENTCOM stated that as of August 30 it had diverted 83 commercial ships, rendered three inoperable, and boarded two to ensure compliance with the blockade.
In parallel, ABC News & Headlines reported that Iran retaliated by attacking U.S. bases in Jordan with ballistic missiles, and it said Jordan’s armed forces intercepted eight missiles that entered Jordanian airspace.