Most Americans say US not winning Iran war as Trump approval falls - poll

Nearly two-thirds of Americans believe the United States is not winning the war with Iran, while approval of US President Donald Trump's handling of foreign affairs has fallen to a new low, according to a CNN poll conducted by SSRS and released Tuesday.

The poll found that 64% of Americans said the US was not winning the war, compared with 36% who believed it was.

Trump's handling of the conflict received approval from 26% of respondents. His broader handling of foreign affairs received 29% approval and 71% disapproval, the lowest foreign policy approval rating recorded for Trump in a CNN poll across either of his presidential terms.

The decline was particularly pronounced among Republicans.

Sixty percent of Republicans approved of Trump's handling of the situation in Iran, down 13 percentage points from 73% in March, according to the poll.

Republican support for Trump's handling of Iran drops

CNN reported that Democrats and independents had already registered lower levels of approval, meaning the more recent decline was driven largely by changing views among Republicans.

The poll was released as Trump attended the United Nations General Assembly in New York, where Iran and the ongoing war featured prominently in his foreign policy agenda.

Trump addressed the General Assembly on Tuesday, saying Iran must not be allowed to obtain a nuclear weapon and raising the prospect of either reaching an agreement with Tehran or further military action.

US, Iran hold indirect contacts at UNGA

The polling comes as Washington and Tehran have resumed indirect contact after months without talks.

US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner communicated with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi through mediators on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly on Wednesday, The Jerusalem Post reported.

The contacts were the first between the two sides since an interim ceasefire agreement collapsed in July.

Trump described the meeting between US officials and Iran's mediators as "very productive" and said he believed there was momentum toward an agreement.

Iran, meanwhile, communicated conditions through Qatar that included an end to the war on all fronts and an end to what Tehran described as US "acts of aggression."