Most Iranians decry US involvement in Syria: Poll
A large majority of Iranians disapprove of the US involvement in Syria, which they perceive as being designed to increase America's regional clout and to prop up Israeli and Saudi interests, according to a new survey.
The poll, conducted by the University of Maryland's Center for International and Security Studies in January, shows that 74 percent of Iranians disapprove of US intervention in Syria.
Iranians view US involvement as largely motivated by a desire to increase Washington’s influence and power in the Middle East (69 percent), to protect the interests of Israel (63 percent) and Saudi Arabia (50 percent), the poll found.
They also see it as a way to decrease Iran’s regional clout (59 percent), and to topple the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad (53 percent).
Only 17 percent of Iranians believe that American involvement in Syria is primarily designed to degrade and defeat the Daesh (ISIL) terrorist group.
Moreover, 63 percent of Iranians favor troop deployment to Syria to fight Daesh and maintain Iran’s power there while also countering Saudi, American, and Israeli schemes.
Meanwhile, views of the US continue to be quite negative as 71 percent of Iranians have an unfavorable view of Washington policies. Only 34 percent have confidence that the US will fulfill its obligations under last year's nuclear accord between Iran and permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany (P5+1 countries), according to the poll.
Domestically, 70 percent of Iranians approve of the nuclear agreement sealed in July 2015 between Tehran and the P5+1.
Nevertheless, 60 percent of Iranians think the US will not live up to its obligations under the nuclear deal and do not think America will accept other countries' cooperation with Iran’s nuclear program, as provided for under the deal.
Finally, the poll found most Iranians are confident that the upcoming Majlis (parliament) elections in the country will be fair. Two-thirds are highly confident they will vote in the upcoming elections for the Majlis and the Assembly of Experts due in a couple of weeks.
The telephone poll of 1,012 Iranians was conducted between December 29, 2015 and January 15, 2016 for the Center for International and Security Studies at Maryland by IranPoll.com, an independent, Toronto-based polling organization. The margin of error was +/- 3.2 percent.
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