Hormuz Headaches: 79% Expect Endless War as $BTC Sits This Side of $63K 📉

A Reuters/Ipsos poll of 1,019 US adults over three days through Sunday shows 79% of Americans now expect the United States' war with Iran to drag on, with just 18% anticipating the conflict will wrap up within weeks. President Donald Trump has formally notified Congress that military action against Iran resumed on July 7, a move that grants the armed forces 60 additional days of operations without further congressional authorization. The development lands months before November's midterm elections, where rising fuel prices are already weighing on Republican prospects.

Only 37% of respondents in the Reuters/Ipsos survey said they supported the strikes, which restarted on June 26 after Washington attributed attacks on commercial ships to Tehran. Earlier polling pointed the same direction. A Financial Times survey found 58% of voters judged the war not worth its cost, while a Generation Lab poll of adults aged 18 to 34 recorded 77% opposed to the strikes on Iran. The Reuters/Ipsos poll also showed six in 10 expect gasoline prices to climb over the coming year, with pump prices already near $3.87 a gallon.

Tensions around the Strait of Hormuz escalated Monday after Trump pledged to blockade Iranian ports and collect 20% of every cargo passing through the chokepoint. "The Hormuz Strait is OPEN, and will remain OPEN, with or without Iran… The U.S.A. will be, from this point forward, known as 'THE GUARDIAN OF THE HORMUZ STRAIT'… reimbursed, at the rate of 20% on all cargo shipped," Trump wrote. Tehran had previously declared the waterway closed.

Markets reacted swiftly. Crude oil climbed roughly 4%, while Bitcoin ($BTC) slipped to around $62,600 as traders weighed the prospect of a prolonged Hormuz disruption. A separate New York Times tracker pegged Trump's approval rating near 39%, against the president's claimed 59%, adding to political pressure on Republicans ahead of the midterms where control of both the House and Senate is at stake.